Former speaker says tweet on reconvening Parliament has been misinterpreted

COLOMBO (News1st): Former speaker Karu Jayasuriya has said his recent tweet supporting calls to reconvene Parliament, was not a move to support a proposal of the opposition.

"It was unfortunate that some people had crudely misinterpreted my position," the former speaker said in a statement issued on Saturday.

He added that he will not reconvene Parliament unilaterally and contribute to worsen the "emerging constitutional dispute".

Opposition parties wrote to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, this week, seeking to reconvene the dissolved Parliament as failure to convene Parliament after a poll on June 2, will result in a constitutional crisis.

"As the Speaker of the dissolved Parliament, I endorse this proposal," Jayasuriya had said in his tweet.

However, issuing a statement, the former speaker said that his tweet was not to support the opposition's proposal but "a mere endorsement of steps to democratically solve a looming issue".

The former speaker further said that he is  bound to uphold the constitution and act in line with the verdict of the judiciary.

The government has repeatedly turned down calls to seek a determination from the supreme court to prevent a constitutional impasse.