The tale of two Prime Ministers

The birthdays of two Prime Ministers of Sri Lanka fall within this week. One is Dudley Shelton Senanayake, four times Prime Minister and the other is Ranasinghe Premadasa, who became Executive President after his stint as Prime Minister. Both were from the United National party (UNP).

Dudley Senanayake with his father Prime Minister D. S. Senanayake and Finance Minister J. R. Jayewardena. He was then Minister of Agriculture & Lands.

Dudley Senanayake, son of the first Prime Minister D. S. Senanayake was born on June 19, 1911 at Botale Walauwe, the ancestral home of the Senanayakes near Mirigama. Entering politics at an early age after his higher studies at Cambridge University where he completed the natural history tripos and later qualified as a barrister, he was elected to the second State Council in 1936 winning the Dedigama seat by 8299 votes. He continued to represent Dedigama in successive Parliaments beginning with the First Parliament when he entered the House of Representatives winning the seat by 13,554 votes. He served as Minister of Agriculture and Lands in the first Cabinet.

The sudden death of his father, D. S. Senanayake on March 22, 1952 saw him being called upon to form the government by the Governor-General, Lord Soulbury. He soon called for elections and at the general election held in May 1952, he led the UNP to victory securing 54 seats in the 101-member House of Representatives. With a number of Tamil Congress and independent members joining, he had a clear mandate and became Prime Minister for the second time. After a year and seven months he resigned on grounds of ill health and was succeeded by Sir John Kotelawela. It was a stormy period when the rice subsidy was withdrawn and there was tremendous agitation.

Dudley Senanayake announced his resignation from the UNP and from politics in January 1956 and kept away from playing any active role in the 1956 general election. He, however, returned to politics in February 1957 assuming leadership of the UNP when Sir John moved out following the disastrous performance at the 1956 general election which gave just eight seats to the party.

Senanayake became Prime Minister when the UNP won the 1960 March election but lasted only a few weeks when he had to resign following the defeat of the government on the Address of Thanks motion on the government's programme of work. After the 1960 general election, he functioned as Leader of the Opposition until the 1965 March general election when he led the UNP to victory once again and became Prime Minister. He became the first Prime Minister to serve the full term of office – from March 25, 1965 till March 25, 1970.

The UNP could not come to power at the 1970 election and though he won his seat and could become the Leader of the Opposition, he offered the post to his second-in-command, J. R. Jayewardene. He remained President of the party until his death on April 13, 1973.

A bachelor, Dudley Senanayake was an able debater and one who respected Parliamentary traditions. He was also a keen photographer.