Ranil and Karu reach consensus

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and former Speaker Karu Jayasuriya have reached and agreement to work together on forming new Parliament committees. 

Jayasuriya told Daily Mirror the Prime Minister had a discussion with him and they agreed to work together on the Parliament committees. 

There had been reports and speculation earlier that the former Speaker will be brought into Parliament through the National List to be appointed as Prime Minister, to replace Mahinda Rajapaksa. 

However, that speculation was dismissed with the appointment of Ranil Wickreemesinghe as Prime Minister. 

Speaking to Daily Mirror last night Jayasuriya said that National Movement for Social Justice (NMSJ) of which he is the Chairman, stands for democracy and as such it will support democratizing Parliament and State institutions. 

As a result, he said the National Movement for Social Justice accepted an invitation by the Prime Minister to work with him on the Parliament committees. 

Jayasuriya said he also agreed with the Prime Minister that Gota Go Gama representatives should be included in some of the committees. 

The Prime Minister had recently proposed to appoint four youth representatives to each of the proposed 15 committees of which one will be appointed by the Youth Parliament and the other three will be from the protesting groups and other activist groups.  

Asked if he was to hold talks with GGG representatives on behalf of the Prime Minister, Jayasuriya said such a move was not discussed. 

He also insisted that there was no political deal with the Prime Minister and that his involvement was only with the Parliament committees.(Easwaran Rutnam)