In a farcical turn of events, President Maithripala Sirisena said he only got to know about the salary hike for MPs "from the newspapers."

"I will not allow anyone to increase salaries of MPs at least by five cents," the President said, addressing a meeting in Polonnaruwa.

"i heard that the decision had been made at the party leaders meeting," he said. However, the SLFP is usually represented at the party leaders meeting by President Sirisena's ally Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva. 

Multiple media reports said last week that Speaker Karu Jayasuriya had received a request from party leaders to increase the salaries of MPs by 215% placing them on the salary scale with judges.