Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa still in country, says Speaker

Sri Lanka Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena on Monday took a U-turn on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's whereabouts and said that the president is still in the country. The speaker said that his conversation was reported out of context that the President had left the country.

"The honorable President and speaker have been in touch on and off mode and the President has been issuing formal communication to the speaker. Conversation published by the media was reported without a time frame reference." Sri Lanka speaker's



said.

"While there were major political developments happening, the speaker was under the impression that the President was not in the country. His location has not been officially notified because of security reasons. The statement by the speaker has been reported out of context that the president is out of the country," the speaker's office said.

Thousands of protesters stormed into the official residence of Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in rage over the government's mishandling of the country's worst economic crisis.