The SLFP General Secretary Maithripala Sirisena yesterday said that the country could expect President Mahinda Rajapaksa to unveil his future plans before the Southern Provincial Council.

Addressing a press conference at the Mahaweli Centre, Sirisena said that the President would make a far reaching policy statement on September 1 to coincide with the 19th Convention of the SLFP. He emphasised that the most important statement would set the tone for the tail end of this year and early next year.

Declining to discuss the plan, he said that it would be presented on behalf of the SLFP, the UPFA and the Government. He called the proposed plan a new national political agenda.

About 6000 delegates are expected to attend the Convention scheduled to be held at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium.

Parliamentary polls are scheduled before next April though some speculate that the President would call for presidential elections ahead of the general elections.

Sirisena said that the Southern Provincial Council would be dissolved next week. According to him, the UPFA had already finalised its list of candidates for the Southern PC polls and would launch its campaign after the Uva PC polls which the ruling coalition expects to win with a massive majority.

Fielding questions, he said that the latest move by the UNP to form another alliance against the government wouldn’t serve any purpose. "They established several alliances over the past few years. This is nothing new and poses no challenge to us,"Sirisena said asserting that the UNP would have to find another way to win over the people.

The Minister said that the UNP’s campaign for the August 8 Uva polls had collapsed.

"They are struggling even to find some youth to put up posters," he said. On the other hand, the ruling coalition would conclude its campaign with two rallies presided over by the President at Moneragala (August 2) and Badulla (August 5).

He said though they hadn’t fared well in Badulla at previous elections, the Government would do extremely well at the forthcoming Uva polls. He attributed this to an unprecedented number of Tamil speaking people, including Muslims switching their allegiance to the government.

He also rejected Opposition claims that the government had been engaged in a systematic campaign to target opposition activists. Although the police had received several complaints, there hadn’t been any serious incidents not only at Uva but Vavuniya and Jaffna where local government elections, too, were scheduled for August 8. The UNP was making ridiculous excuses to cover up their shortcomings and their inability at least to put on a reasonable fight, he said.

Investment Promotion and Export Development Minister Prof. G. L. Peiris said that the government could score an unprecedented victory at Uva on the strength of its magnificent military triumph over the LTTE. Addressing the press, the Prof. said that the people of Uva had experienced unprecedented level of development and strengthening of economic activities over the past few years and would back the government without hesitation.

He also said that the money spent on the war effort could now be spent on development. Responding to The Island queries, he said though Sri Lanka would seek to bring down the overall budget deficit to 5 per cent by 2011 in keeping with the recent agreement with the IMF, it wouldn’t stop the government from increasing spending, particularly in the northern and eastern provinces. He said that their agreement with the IMF for USD 2.6 billion stand by facility hadn’t been received under any conditions which would be detrimental to their development plans.

He said that the IMF wouldn’t oppose heavy spending on north-east development as it was needed in the aftermath of the victory over the LTTE.

Asked to comment on an unprecedented increase in the number of family members of government politicians contesting Uva polls and previously held elections for other PCs, both Sirisena and Prof. Peiris said being a family member shouldn’t be a qualification or disqualification for one to contest an election.