The government will not fear any common candidate proposed by the opposition for the next presidential election, Minister of Power Mahindananda Aluthgamage told Parliament yesterday, during the emergency debate, Minister Aluthgamage said that no common candidate would be able to defeat President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Chief of Defence Staff General Sarath Fonseka is a war hero who achieved government’s target of defeating the LTTE military and now the opposition plans to make use of the fame of the General, he said.

"I do not think that General Fonseka is so foolish that he would fall for the opposition trap. He will never join forces with bankrupt party leaders like Ranil Wickremesinghe and Mano Ganeshan. Both have been in constant touch with the LTTE", he said.

"General Fonseka who is a great Sinhala war hero will never be fooled by these elements", he said.

"I want to ask the JVP why it cannot put forward their party leader Somawansa Amarasinghe. What’s wrong with him?"

Minister Aluthgamage said that the Opposition had recently engaged in a campaign through sections of the media that some security provided for the General had been removed"

"I would like to tell this House that the General is provided with more security than the President," he said..

JVP MP S. K. Samarasinghe said that Gen. Fonseka has not announced whether he would contest any election or not". Gen. Fonseka has not made it public whether he likes to be the common candidate or not.