Ravi K demands Bandula G’s resignation

Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake

Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake yesterday blew a fuse with opposition lawmaker Bandula Gunawardena who referred to him as “Ganeshan” during a heated debate that took place on Tuesday. Unable to control the disturbances and unruly behaviour of opposition MPs, the issue forced the Speaker to suspend Parliament, despite the live telecast.

Minister Karunanayke was furious at being called “Ganeshan” and charged MP Gunawardena with defamation and wanted him to resign, as challenged the day before in Parliament. “This is a deliberate attempt, and it is not the first time MP Gunawardena has done this. I don’t accept his apology and he should resign. I have been accepting his apologies for over 25 years. So, he should walk out of that door and resign from Parliament, as challenged before,” said Minister Karunanayake.

Listing the previous occasions MP Gunawardena has tarnished Minister Karunanayake’s image, he said: “He charged me for signing an agreement with Prima when I was the Commerce Minister. But it was Minister Rauf Hakeem who signed that agreement. Even after the Supreme Court cleared my name, Bandula Gunawardena was charging me for accepting funds into my account from Raj Rajaratnam. I disregarded these. But now he should not be allowed to continue. I am a Christian and my wife is Malay and I have Hindu employees working for me.”

MP Bandula Gunawardena in response stated that he accepted his mistake and was willing to move on.  However, Minister Karunanayke sought the Speaker to take action to prevent parliamentarians from making defamatory statements during live telecasts and getting away with it by making apologies.