 Following a failed impeachment of President Premadasa, he was removed from the UNP and formed his own party.Born to a family of lawyers hailing from Kaluthara, his father D. D. Athulathmudali was a Member of the State Council of Ceylon and his mother was Dona Elisiyana (Elisa) Perera née Weerasinha.He had two siblings, a brother Dayantha who became an engineer and a sister Sujae who became a doctor.