predecessor parliament religion birth_place president constituency_mp nationality party office profession primeminister birth_date term_start image article_title name occupation alma_mater
tissa attanayake sri lankan buddhist buddhist kalutara , sri lanka maithripala sirisena kalutara sri lanka sri lankan united lanka freedom party -lrb- 2007 -- 2015 -rrb- united national national party -lrb- 2015 -- '' present '' -rrb- party -lrb- 1994 -- 2007 -rrb- sri ministry of health and indigenous medicine dental surgeon ranil wickremesinghe 29 may 1950 2015-01-12 dmy dr.rajitha senaratna.jpg rajitha senaratne
 rajitha senaratne politics ananda college colombo nalanda college , colombo
rajitha senaratne

nambukara helambage rajitha harischandra senaratne -lrb- born 29 may 1950 -rrb- -lrb- known as `` rajitha senaratne '' -rrb- mp is the sri lanka 's cabinet minister of health and indigenous medicine and a member of parliament representing the kalutara district .
he was former cabinet minister of fisheries and aquatic resources development .
dr rajitha is also the current cabinet spokesman .
he completed his primary education at ananda college colombo and nalanda college , colombo and entered the faculty of dental science , university of peradeniya .
graduating from peradeniya in 1974 he became a dental practitioner in the state sector and was soon appointed as the secretory to the government dental surgeons assosiation -lrb- gdsa -rrb- the trade union of the dental surgeons that had many battles with the jayawardena government over the private medical college issue .
he started his political life from the slfp and later joined vijaya kumaranatunga to established the slmp .
the dental surgeon was a vociferous critic of the tooth for tooth policy of jvp and was a prime target during the jvp insurrection .
he was critically injured in a blast at the grand pass election rally conducted to support ossie abeygunasekera 's presidential election campaign in 1988 .
two pieces of shrapnel still remain inside his skull .
he was elected to the western provincial council in 1988 from the usa with which slmp was in an alliance .
he unsuccessfully contested the 1989 general elections under usa ticket .
when ossie abeygunasekera , the successor of vijaya to the slmp leadership , started to gravitate towards the premadasa regimn , rajitha broke away from slmp and formed bahujana nidahas peramuna -lrb- bnp -rrb- which would shelter chandrika kumaratunga when she return to sri lanka in few years time .
later rajitha later joined unp which appointed him as a national list mp in the wijethunga government and became a bitter critic of chandrika .
in 1994 he was elected to the parliament from kaluthara district under unp cadidature .
he was the fire brand of the opposition benches from 1994 to 1999 and played a pivotal role in the debate over channel-9 scandal .
he openly challenged the self declared education qualifications of chandika .
in 1999 the courts disqualified him from doing business with the state and was unseated from the parliament .
however , unp re-appointed him to the vacancy created by his own unseating .
he was re-elected at the 2000 general elections and secured his seat at every election held thereafter .
in 2007 he crossed over to the upfa ruling government and held an important cabinet ministerial post in the rajapaksa government .
he topped the list of the kaluthara district at many elections but was dragged down to the second slot at the 2010 general elections by kumara welgama .
he was awarded the portfolio of fishing and aquatic resources in the cabinet .
in 2014 as the sri lankan presidential election , 2015 nears he defected alongside maithripala sirisena complaining about nepotism and corruption of the government and supporting maithripala as the common candidate .
