Tomas and Rasi Deny any Deals between Voice-SD and Trio of MPs around Huliak

Bratislava, October 2 (TASR) - Governing Voice-SD party vice-chairs and ministers Erik Tomas and Richard Rasi have denied that Voice-SD has made any "deals" with the trio of MPs around Rudolf Huliak from the Slovak National Party (SNS) caucus who operate in the National Coalition. "It is crucial for us, and not only for us, but also for the whole coalition, that all three gentlemen around Huliak have declared that they will abide by the government manifesto, as well as the coalition agreement, and this is what the Voice-SD party has been calling for since the beginning," said Labour Minister Erik Tomas before the government session on Wednesday. He denied that Voice-SD has held any negotiations with the three MPs, however. Voice-SD didn't buy Huliak, said Investment Minister Richard Rasi. "We don't need to buy anybody, this is still just three votes. We wouldn't even think of it," Rasi told journalists, referring to good coalition relations. Rasi confirmed that he's still Voice-SD's candidate for the House chair post. The important thing is that the post belongs to Voice-SD, stressed Rasi, adding that the functioning of the government and keeping to its government manifesto is more important, however. Huliak, leader of the extra-parliamentary 'National Coalition/Independent Candidates' party, wants the name of his party to be included in the name of the SNS caucus. He stated that the three MPs operating in the National Coalition, namely: himself, Ivan Sefcik and Pavel Luptak, are responsible for their own actions and should bear the consequences of them without impacts on SNS. The three MPs have declared their support for the government and the coalition agreement. They are ready to support the candidacy of a Voice-SD nominee for the post of the House chair. SNS leader Andrej Danko views Huliak's stance as a betrayal and said that the name of the SNS caucus won't be changed. He thinks that Huliak came to an agreement with Voice-SD on support for the House chair. ko/df