UNP MP Harin Fernando today resigned from Parliament to contest the forthcoming Uva Provincial Council election.

The Badulla District MP tendered his resignation to the General Secretary of the Parliament, Ada Derana reporter said.

Addressing the Parliament, Fernando also expressed his gratitude to the Speaker, the Opposition Leader, government and opposition MPs as well as to Parliamentary Staff.

It has been reported that the United National Party (UNP) has decided to name Harin Fernando as its Chief Ministerial candidate for the Uva Province.

Fernando had previously expressed willingness to resign from Parliament in order to contest the upcoming Provincial Council election as the party’s Chief Ministerial candidate.

In an interview on the Derana 360˚ programme in April, Harin said he would only do so if all responsible persons in the UNP including the Opposition Leader, Leadership Council and MP Sajith Premadasa came forward to declare that they would work together and ask him to resign his seat in Parliament.

The vociferous MP had been in the spotlight recently due to an on-camera brawl with North Western Province Chief Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara, a former UNP MP who resigned from Parliament and contested the 2013 PC polls under the UPFA, during the ‘Wada Pitiya’ programme on TV Derana.  

The Uva Provincial Council was dissolved on July 11 while nominations for the Uva PC polls is to be called from July 30 to August 6.

Former Uva Chief Minister Shasheendra Rajapaksa, eldest son of Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa and nephew of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, is expected to contest as the ruling party’s CM candidate once again.