Leader of the House

Hon. Bimal Rathnayaka

Minister of Transport, Highways and Civil Aviation and Leader of the House of the Parliament

Minister Bimal Rathnayaka began his education at Little Flower Convent in Tangalle before continuing his studies at Ananda College in Colombo, where he completed the General Certificate of Education Advanced Level. Subsequently, he qualified to enter the Engineering faculty of the University of Moratuwa. Before enrolling at the University in 1995, he gained experience working in the foreign currency division of a private bank.
He became involved in political affairs by joining the Socialist Students Union of Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) in 1989 and transitioned to full-time politics as a JVP representative in 1996. Mr. Rathnayaka was appointed National Organizer of the Socialist Students Union in 1998 and was the Chief Ministerial candidate for the North Western Provincial Council election in the same year, where he also led the group of candidates contested for the Council representing JVP. Accordingly, he was elected as a member to the North Western Provincial Council in 1999.
While serving as the Kurunegala District Organizer for the JVP, he was elected to Parliament in 2000, representing the people of the Kurunegala District. He was also appointed to the JVP’s Education Committee in 2000 and later to the Central Committee of the JVP in 2001. Mr. Rathnayaka was re-elected to Parliament in 2001, where he played a pivotal role in the passage of the passing of 17th Amendment to the Constitution on behalf of the JVP. He was re-elected to the Parliament in 2004 and appointed as Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation, Land and Livestock.
He served as the founding National Organizer of the Socialist Youth Union, the JVP’s Youth Organization. In 2014, he was elected to the Political Bureau and appointed National Organizer of the JVP. Since the inception of the International Relations Committee of the JVP, he has remained an active member and has served as the chair of the International Relations Section within the party since 2015. He has been coordinating JVP activities in the Northern Province since that same year.
Reappointed as a Member of Parliament from the National List in 2015, Mr. Rathnayaka has actively engaged in addressing public issues throughout his tenure in parliament. He actively engaged in the Parliamentary Committees on High Posts, Public Enterprises, Public Accounts, Public Finance, and Public Petitions. He also supported the affairs of the Women Parliamentarians Caucus and was a member of the Committee on International Relations. On behalf of the JVP, he took on the responsibility to coordinating matters related to the Ministry of Education and was a member of the Operational Committee responsible for drafting a new Constitution. He also served on the Parliamentary Chairman's Panel from 2015 to 2020, during which he participated in relevant training programs held in India, the United Kingdom, USA and Canada. Furthermore, he served as the Secretary of the Sri Lanka-Palestinian and Sri Lanka-Cuba Parliamentary Friendship Associations and was a member of the Sri Lanka-China, Sri Lanka-Russia, Sri Lanka-Vietnam and Sri Lanka-Iran Friendship Associations in 2015. He also actively involved in the process of passing the the Office of Missing Persons Act, no 14 of 2016 and advocated for the rights of the unjustly treated and marginalized communities.
He has been representing the World Federation of Democratic Youth, the World Peace Council, and the International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties. He served as the Chair of the Vietnam Friendship Foundation, which was established in 2015, and has been serving as the co-Chair of the Sri Lanka Palestinian Solidarity Organization since 2022.
Since 2019 he has been a National Executive Committee Member of Jathika Jana Balavegaya (NPP) which was established with the participation of JVP. In the Parliamentary election of 2024 he has appointed to the current 10th Parliament as a National List Member. Currently he hold the potions of Minister of Transport, Highways and Civil Aviation and Leader of the House of the Parliament.