Leader of the House and Health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva yesterday dismissed recent reports that the government will dissolve parliament after the budget and go for a snap general election.

"Government is stable and on a strong footing. Why should we go for a poll at this juncture," he asked at a news conference yesterday. The UPFA government will continue in power till its full term is over in 2010, he said.

However elections in the five provincial councils will be held when their terms end. The first will be the North Western Provincial Council in April.

He expressed confidence that the government will win the PC polls with a clear majority.

Asked whether the government has any intention of holding elections in some of the provinces earlier he said there is no need to do so.

There may be a slender possibility in some provinces depending on the ongoing military operations.

Minister De Silva said the SLFP is in the process of finalising the nominations for the PC elections and the closing date will December 15.

"The UNP and the JVP created a disastrous situation for themselves by voting against the government when the second reading of the budget was held and with this action many of their supporters will change their minds and vote against them in the future," he said.

General Secretary of the SLFP Maithripala Sirisena said the JVP which sang hosannas about the security forces and thundered on political platforms on the need to protect those fighting in defence of the motherland, has exposed its political nakedness by voting against the budget, where the required funds were allocated to support the ongoing military operations.

The JVP has dug its own grave and its future is very uncertain and bleak he said.

"It's not a surprise that the UNP voted against the budget due to the simple fact that the Ranil Wickremesinghe led UNP had handed over 1/5 of the country by signing a bogus Ceasefire Agreement with the LTTE."

Leaders of the political parties which comprise the UPFA have assured that their respective parties will continue to contest the future elections under the UPFA banner the Minister said.

"President Mahinda Rajapaksa has many reasons to celebrate his completion of three years in office having registered major victories over the LTTE and implementation of a number of development projects," Sirisena said.

The defeat of the Tigers in Pooneryn and opening of a land route from Mannar to Jaffna is a decisive victory for the government and the people of this country he said.

Transport Minister Dallas Aalahapperuma yesterday asked "What would have been the fate of this country if Mahinda Rajapaksa was not elected President.

He said if Ranil Wickremesinghe was elected to the high office the country would have turned towards disaster and there terrorism would have thrived with no development in the country.

When he was Prime Minister control of certain parts of the country were handed over to the LTTE on a platter and there was no law and order in those areas. The terrorist organization established Eelam Police, Ealam Courts, Eelam Banks Eelam Currency, Eelam Taxes in this sovereign country Alahapperuma said.

The UNP always tried to dampen the spirits of the soldiers with negative propaganda which only would have helped the LTTE.

They said that the security forces could never win this war and claimed that it is a futile exercise. Ranil Addressing a news conference he said Wickremesinghe even went to the extent of telling that the battle between the Sakhyas and Koliyas in India over the Rohini river was settled without much loss of human lives and asked why we should sacrifice even thousand lives for the sake of the country.

Admitting that dissident Mangala Samaraweera in the past had helped the UPFA government in many ways and had been responsible for Mahinda Rajapaksa's victory as President, Alahapperuma warned that enrolling Mangala Samaraweera to the UNP was suicidal for the party.

He said Samaraweera's Defence Watch was meant to demoralized the patriotic security forces personnel and to sling mud at Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and Army Commander Lt Gen Sarath Fonseka.

Samaraweera is spreading the LTTE ideology in the UNP and people of the calibre of Sajith Premadasa and Rukman Senanayake should be warned of this danger he said.

Government yesterday warned that the LTTE in the face heavy defeats the Wanni is targeting politicians and innocent civilians as last resort to force the government to stop the on going offensive against them.

Now they will do anything to avenge their defeat and kill every one they could lay their hands on said Transport Minister Dallas Alahapperuma at a new briefing yesterday.

An innocent medical doctor Dr. Palitha Pathmakumara who voluntarily agreed to serve in the Batticaloa district was yesterday gunned down by the frustrated LTTE at the Vavunathivu hospital he said.

"The Tigers want to discourage the Sinhalese moving in to these areas even on official duty, after the security forces liberated the east from the clutches of the LTTE," he pointed out.