[2] His father died when he was ten and his family moved to Ampitiya, where he was enrolled in an English missionary school.
[3] He was appointed the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Education, Wijeyananda Dahanayake, as part of the S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike cabinet.
[2][5] At the 5th parliamentary election, held on 20 July 1960, he contested the seat of Kundasale on behalf of the United National Party.
He failed to defeat the sitting member from the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, U. P. Y. Jinadasa, losing the election by 1,586 votes.
[6] At the 6th parliamentary election, held on 22 March 1965, he returned to the seat of Wattegama, this time as the United National Party candidate, after the sitting member, Abeyratne Ratnayaka, agreed to be appointed to the Senate of Ceylon.