44-signed no confidence motion against Ravi K accepted by Speaker

Minister of Finance Ravi Karunanayake

By AshwinHemmathagama Our Lobby Correspondent

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya accepted the Opposition’s no confidence motion against Minister of Finance Ravi Karunanayake yesterday. 

The motion carried 44 signatures of UPFA lawmakers including Dinesh Gunawardane, Gamini Lokuge, Bandula Gunawardane, Mahindananda

Aluthgamage, ShehanSemasinghe, Janaka Wakumbura, Vijitha Berugoda, Kanchana Wikesekera, Namal Rajapaksa, Johnston Fernando, Jayantha Samaraweera, D. V. Chanaka, Dilum Amunugama, Manusha Nanayakara, and Dr. Ramesh Pathirana.

According to sources, the motion has highlighted a recent controversy that surfaced in the Parliament where Opposition MPs charged Minister Karunanayake was “distorting statistics,” adding asset values with Government expenditure to make provision for education. 

The lawmakers in their motion accused Minister Karunanayake of attempting to portray a wrong picture of the Government having allocated a significantly large amount of money in Budget 2016 for the respective sector when that was not the case.

However, members of the JVP who pledged to defeat Budget 2016 from the day it was presented in the Parliament last week have refrained from taking part in the no confidence motion drama.