Sri Ranga Jeyaratnam

Jeyaratnam was born on 22 January 1971.^[1] He was educated at Vavuniya Tamil Madhya Maha Vidyalayam and Jaffna Hindu College.^[2] He then entered the University of Colombo where he was captain of the football team.^[3][4]

After university Jeyaratnam joined MBC Networks, presenting the Erimalai (volcano) programme on Shakthi FM.^[2] He later moved to television, presenting the Minnal (lightning) programme on Shakthi TV.^[2][5] This programme was very popular amongst the Up-country Tamils, particularly the youth.^[5] He is leader of the Citizen's Front (CF).^[5]

Jeyaratnam has close ties with President Mahinda Rajapaksa's family and is a close friend of his son Namal Rajapaksa.^[6]

During 2005 and 2006 Jeyaratnam and his family received several threats from unidentified persons.^[7][8] In November 2006, after Jeyaratnam's TV programme featured the assassination of Tamil National Alliance MP Nadarajah Raviraj, the police informed Shakthi TV that Jeyaratnam's life was in danger.^[9][10] On 3 February 2010 an unidentified group attacked the vehicle he was travelling in near Hatton.^[11]

Jeyaratnam contested the 2010 parliamentary election as one of the United National Front's candidates in Nuwara Eliya District and was elected to Parliament.^[12][13] Jeyaratnam did not contest the 2015 parliamentary election but was instead placed on the United People's Freedom Alliance's (UPFA) list of National List candidates.^[14][15] However, after the election he was not appointed to the National List.^[16][17]