‘Lanka govt can win Constitution change’

Kumaratunga, elected separately from the government, has accused the Prime Minister of surrendering too much to the rebels, although the President’s Opposition People’s Alliance party has endorsed the peace talks and rejected the risk that Parliament might be dissolved.

The state-run Sunday Observer said about a quarter of the People’s Alliance party lawmakers were willing to support a constitutional change curbing the President’s ability to dissolve Parliament. ‘‘Twenty-three People’s Alliance parliamentarians have pledged firm backing to the government on the amendments,’’ the paper said. This would be enough, when added to the 129 votes of the government and its allies, to achieve a two-thirds majority of 150 in the 225-seat Parliament.