Vijayakala's statement: Speaker refers matter to AG

3 July 2018 06:26 pm

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya has asked the Attorney General whether State Minister Vijayakala Mahsewaran’s controversial statement calling for the resurgence of the LTTE violates the Constitution or any other laws of the country and if so to take appropriate action against her.

“A question has arisen as to the type of action to be taken against Ms. Maheswaran after the sentiments expressed by MPs in the House today. The MPs stressed the need to take action against Ms. Maheswaran. They argued that the state minister had violated the oath an MP takes as per the annexure 7 of the Constitution,” a statement from the Speaker’s office said.

Meanwhile, the Speaker informed parliament today that he would inquire into the statement made by state minister Maheshwaran regarding the LTTE and take disciplinary action in addition to the inquiry by the Prime Minister on this matter.

He told parliament that he would have to listen to the tape recording of the statement said to have been made by the state minister in Jaffna recently.

The Speaker said this in response to a request made by opposition MPs that the minister should be suspended from attending parliament for having made a statement which promote separatism and violating the constitution.

However, MPs such as Dayasiri Jayasekara, who came to the Well of the House, urged the speaker to suspend her from parliament at least for two weeks until the investigation was over.

The Speaker said he needed time to do so and that he would inquire into the matter. (Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana)