Ratna Deshapriya Senanayake (18 September 1922 - 21 January 2012) was a

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

n politician. He was a

member of parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

and Parliamentary Secretary for the Minister of Planning and Employment. Qualified as

proctor Proctor (a variant of ''procurator'') is a person who takes charge of, or acts for, another. The title is used in England and some other English-speaking countries in three principal contexts: * In law, a proctor is a historical class of lawye ...

, he worked as a journalist, serving as the Deputy Editor of

Lankadeepa Lankadeepa ( si, ලංකාදීප) is a daily Sri Lankan Sinhala language newspaper which is owned by Wijeya Newspapers. They were established in 1991. The Chairman of the organisation is Ranjith Wijewardene, the son of D. R. Wijewardena. Th ...

and the Secretary General of the Afro Asian Writers’ Bureau. Having entered politics as a member of the

Communist Party of Ceylon The Communist Party of Sri Lanka ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ කොමියුනිස්ට් පක්ෂය, ''Sri Lankavay Komiyunist Pakshaya'' ta, இலங்கை கம்யூனிஸ்ட் கட்சி, trans ...

, he first contested the Dedigama electorate in 1960 July general election from the

Sri Lanka Freedom Party The Sri Lanka Freedom Party ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය, translit=Śrī Laṁkā Nidahas Pakṣaya; ta, இலங்கை சுதந்திரக் கட்சி, translit=Ilaṅkai Cutantirak Ka� ...

and lost to

Dudley Senanayake Dudley Shelton Senanayake ( Sinhala: ඩඩ්ලි ශෙල්ටන් සේනානායක: ta, டட்லி சேனநாயக்கா; 19 June 1911 – 13 April 1973), was a Sri Lankan statesman who served as Prime Mi ...

and was appointed Chairman of the Cooperative Wholesale Establishment (CWE), serving from 1960 to 1965. He again contested the 1965 general election from Dedigama and was again defeated by Dudley Senanayake. The new established national government carried out a public inquiry his tenure at the CWE. He contested the 1970 general election from

Minneriya Minneriya ( Sinhala: මින්නේරිය) is a small town in Sri Lanka that is famous for two things — the great Minneriya lake built by King Mahasen and Minneriya National Park which is a hot spot for safari lovers because of its abundan ...

and was elected to parliament defeating

C. P. de Silva Charles Percival de Silva (16 April 1912 – 9 October 1972) was a leading Sri Lankan politician and civil servant. He had served as the Minister of Finance, Minister of Lands, Land Development and Agriculture; and Minister of Power and Ir ...

and was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Planning and Employment. He contested the 1977 general election and lost to C. P. de Silva's brother

Merril de Silva Merril de Silva was a Ceylonese lawyer and politician. He was a Member of Parliament from the Minneriya district from 1977 to 1989. He unsuccessfully contested the Polonnaruwa district in the 1970 general elections from the United National Party, b ...

. He had served as Sri Lankan Ambassador to China and was the President of the China Friendship Association. Dharmasiri Senanayake was his brother and he was married to Gloria Senanayake.

References

Members of the 7th Parliament of Ceylon Ceylonese proctors Sri Lanka Freedom Party politicians People from British Ceylon {{SriLanka-diplomat-stub