Dudley Senanayake

Dudley Shelton Senanayake (Sinhala: ඩඩ්ලි ශෙල්ටන් සේනානායක: ; 19 June 1911 – 13 April 1973), was a Sri Lankan statesman who served as Prime Minister of Ceylon from 1952 to 1953 (first term as the second prime minister of Ceylon), in 1960 (second term) and from 1965 to 1970 (third term) and Leader of the Opposition from 1960 to 1964. Senanayake's tenures as prime minister were associated with democratic policies focused on agricultural and educational reforms with a pro-western alignment. Born to a political family, he was the eldest son of D. S. Senanayake who lead the independence movement which gained self-rule to Ceylon in 1948 with D. S. Senanayake becoming the prime minister of Ceylon. Dudley Senanayake who was educated at S. Thomas' College and at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, qualified as a barrister before entering national politics in 1936 when he was elected to the State Council and succeeded his father as minister of agriculture and lands in 1946. He served in his father's cabinet as minister of agriculture and lands from 1947 to 1952. Following the sudden death of D. S. Senanayake, Dudley Senanayake succeeded his father as the second prime minister of Ceylon. He resigned shortly after the Hartal 1953 on health ground and was succeeded by his cousin Colonel Sir John Kotelawala. He returned to active politics in 1957, and held his party the United National Party to a short lived administration in 1960. His second term as Prime Minister lasted four months and he served as the Leader of the Opposition from 1960 to 1964. He formed a national government in 1965 and served his third term as prime minister till 1970 during which he initiated planning for the most ambitious construction projects in Sri Lanka, the Mahaweli Development programme. Following the election defeat in 1970(a defeat encountered on technicality,which his party did not have to accept given they had the majority votes, however out of gentleman spirit agreed to handover to the left movement when they formed a coalition post election results in 1970), Senanayake remained a member of parliament and the partly leader until his death on 13 April 1973. Early life and family Dudley Senanayake was born on 19 June 1911 to the wealthy Senanayake family which was at the time becoming active in local colonial-era politics.