22 Facts About Karu Jayasuriya

Sri Lankabhimanya Karu Jayasuriya is a Sri Lankan politician.

Karu Jayasuriya was the Speaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka.

Karu Jayasuriya has served as Chairman of the Leadership Council of the United National Party, as well as Deputy Leader of the UNP.

Karu Jayasuriya is a member of parliament representing the Gampaha District since 2001.

Karu Jayasuriya had served as Sri Lanka's Ambassador to.

Karu Jayasuriya was born on 29 September 1940 in Mirigama, Gampaha, to the family of Podi Appuhamy Jayasuriya and Wimalaseeli Jayasiriya.

Karu Jayasuriya went on to gain professional membership of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers in 1965 and later gained fellowship.

Karu Jayasuriya trained in commodity trading at the Baltic Exchange and went on to receive Advanced Management Training at INSEAD.

Karu Jayasuriya later became a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport.

Karu Jayasuriya joined the Ceylon Army Volunteer Force in 1965 and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Ceylon National Guard.

Karu Jayasuriya was mobilized during the 1971 JVP insurrection and first come under fire while trying to reestablish rail links between Colombo and Anuradhapura.

Karu Jayasuriya was the Chairman of The National Chamber of Commerce, SAARC Chamber of Commerce, Colombo Rubber Traders' Association, Sugar Importers Association and The Sri Lanka Business Development Centre, as well as the Director of the Export Development Board.

Karu Jayasuriya became an unofficial adviser of President Premadasa on the private sector and in 1991 he left the private sector and was appointed by President Premadasa as the Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the 'EXPO 92' Trade exhibition.

Karu Jayasuriya was thereafter appointed as Sri Lankan Ambassador to Germany with accreditation to Austria and Switzerland in 1992 serving till 1994, when he resigned and returned to Sri Lanka following the defeat of the UNP in the elections that year.

Karu Jayasuriya became active in politics in late 1995 and he became party chairman in 1995 at the request of UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe.

In 1996, Karu Jayasuriya was nominated by the UNP of the local government elections as candidate for the post Mayor of Colombo, by passing Premadasa stalwart and former Mayor Sirisena Cooray.

Karu Jayasuriya was supported by both Wickremesinghe and Cooray as he was considered close to the former President Premadasa.

Karu Jayasuriya served as Mayor till 1999 efficiently administrating the country's most populous city.

Karu Jayasuriya became the opposition leader of the western province council serving till 2001.

At the Presidential Elections of 2005, in which Wickremesinghe was the party's candidate, Karu Jayasuriya was named as the nominee for the premiership in the event of the party's success.

Karu Jayasuriya resigned from his Public Administration and Home Affairs portfolio on 9 December 2008 and rejoined the UNP as its deputy leader.

Karu Jayasuriya's name was proposed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe and seconded by Nimal Siripala De Silva.