We do not need coalitions to form govt.: Harin

United National Party (UNP) Parliamentarian Harin Fernando today said that the UNP did not require assistance from other political parties to form a government and that he had already kept the Working Committee informed about this fact.

“The assistance of other political parties would not be required for the UNP to form a government. We shouldn’t give prominence to political parties that keep changing their coalitions. I have requested the Working Committee not to consider joining other parties and the suggestion was well received,” he said yesterday at a news conference to discuss the views of the UNP on future political coalitions.

He said that there were well recognised Muslim politicians in the UNP who represent the Muslim community and said that neither Minister Rauff Hakeem, nor the Muslim Congress represented a majority of the Muslim Community at present. He pointed out that there were Tamil politicians in the party as well who could address any issues concerning the Tamil community and pointed out that Ministers Arumugam Thondaman and Hakeem’s coalition changes were not done for the benefit of their respective parties. (Lahiru Pothmulla)