sentences:  Later on, in the historic general elections of 1956, Rajapaksa was elected member of parliament for Beliatta and appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Lands and Land Development.In 1959 he was appointed as Cabinet Minister of Agriculture and Lands by Prime Minister Wijeyananda Dahanayake.Rajapaksa's ups and downs in the political arena are follow those of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party at the time.