Believe it or not, not all MPs have grabbed the duty free vehicle permits they were granted and made a tidy profit for themselves. There was at least one exception - UNP Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya.

Well informed sources said yesterday that Jayasuriya had not used six or seven duty free vehicle permits that was his for the taking during his parliamentary career.

"If there are other MPs who can wear the same hat, stand up and be counted,’’ a political observer said. "They must be truly exceptional.’’

Jayasuriya, as Minister of Public Administration and Home Affairs, arrived for the Independence Day parade at Galle Face a couple of years ago in an Indian made Ambassador car while is colleagues drove up in plush limousines.

Intimates said that Jayasuriya who led a group of UNP defectors to join the Mahinda Rajapaksa administration a few years go and then came back alone to the UNP fold contemplated not accepting a portfolio upon crossing over.