Charles Percival de Silva (16 April 1912 – 9 October 1972) was a Sri Lankan politician and civil servant.
Entering politics from the newly formed Sri Lanka Freedom Party, he played a major role in S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike's landslide victory in the 1956 general elections and became the top cabinet minister.
He missed the opportunity to succeed Bandaranaike as prime minister, when the latter was assassinated in 1959 as he himself was in London recovering from a suspect poisoning.
[1] Having sat for the Ceylon Civil Service (CCS) entrance exam in the United Kingdom, de Silva was admitted in 1935 and on his return to the island was appointed as a cadet in the Jaffna Kachcheri.
In Polonnaruwa, de Silva served under Richard Aluvihare and played a major role in establishing the Minneriya Colonisation Scheme.
He resigned shortly thereafter from the Civil Service and retired to his farm in Tabbowa in the Puttalam District becoming a gentleman farmer.
[1][4][5] He became severely ill at a cabinet meeting on 25 August 1959 after consuming a glass of milk and was flown to the United Kingdom for medical treatment.
During his absence Bandaranaike was assassinated on 26 September 1959 and Wijeyananda Dahanayake, who was the acting leader of the house was appointed as prime minister by the Governor General.
De Silva returned to the island soon after and was appointed as Minister of Agriculture and Lands in the caretaker cabinet.
Thereafter the party executive committee authorized him to request the Governor General to remove Dahanayake and replace him with De Silva as the prime minister of the caretaker government.
The government lost the throne speech and Senanayake resigned advising the Governor General to dissolve parliament and call for fresh elections.
C. P. de Silva, met the Governor General, Sir Oliver Goonetilleke and stated that he could form a government.
The party won the election and formed a government, with Sirima Bandaranaike becoming the first woman prime minister in the world.
The government of Sirima Bandaranaike lost the throne speech by one vote and a general election was called for in March 1965.