The political ascendancy of Ranasinghe Premadasa in Sri Lanka through the United National Party (UNP) was indeed a formidable feat and praiseworthy accomplishment. This column focuses on Ranasinghe Premadasa’s rocky road to Sri Lanka’s presidency this week to denote his 30th death anniversary. Ranasinghe Premadasa was elected first MP for Colombo Central with 69, 310 votes. Ranasinghe Premadasa was the first and only member of a non-Govigama caste to become Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. Four Political ContendersThere were four main potential contenders for the Presidency – Ranasinghe Premadasa, Gamini Dissanayake, Lalith Athulathmudali and Ranil Wickremesinghe.