Dudley Senanayake by him such as the Minneriya irrigation project. Contesting in the 1947 general elections from the Dedigama electorate, he was elected to the first parliament of independent Ceylon and was appointed to the cabinet as Minister of Agriculture and Lands by his father, D. S. Senanayake who became the first Prime Minister of Ceylon in 1947. He continued many of the agricultural projects he started in his first year and started the ambitious Gal Oya Project which provided water for the cultivation of over 120,000 acres. He initiated guaranteed price scheme for paddy and farmers. He received the portfolios of
Ceylon Citizenship Act Tamils. Indian Tamils influenced the result in 20 other constituencies, very often voting for the opposition Sinhalese leftist parties. None of the 95 MPs elected at the 1952 general elections were Indian Tamils. On 18 January 1954 Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Ceylon Prime Minister John Kotelawala signed the "Nehru-Kotelawala Pact" under which India agreed to the repatriation of any Indian Tamil who wanted Indian citizenship. But India refused to automatically provide Indian citizenship to those who did not qualify for Ceylon citizenship. On 30 October 1964 Indian Prime Minister Lal Shastri and Ceylon Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike signed