Speaker remains unfazed

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya, who was unshaken by the UPFA parliamentary group refusing to cooperate to continue parliamentary sittings, leading the house into chaos, assured Parliament that he would continue to be Speaker for as long as lawmakers needed. 

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya

He told Parliament that he was unafraid to don a prison uniform if that was what was required to defend “truth, justice and fairness”. (AH)

Inviting the Opposition to remove him from the post, the Speaker held that a no confidence motion should be moved against him if the UPFA disliked his rulings. 

“I have trust in all Parliament officers, including the Secretary General, including the Editor of the Hansard. I am proud of them. I am not moved by my effigies being burnt. I hail from the village and it is good to burn effigies to avoid evil eyes. In case they decide to burn more, I have no issue,” said the Speaker, who also rejected violating any rules and regulations of Parliament and the Constitution. 

Rejecting the UPFA allegations of interfering with Hansard records and the alleged counterfeit documentations, Speaker Jayasuriya said he had never in his life forged any document. 

“I support any investigation into this matter. If I have acted in an unacceptable manner, the best thing is to bring in a no confidence motion against me,” he added. (AH)