'LTTE trying to engineer govt's fall'

In a bid to bring down the Sri Lankan government, Tamil Tigers have asked a pro-rebel political alliance to be present in full strength on Monday in Parliament to defeat the budget proposals for 2008 as a key aide to President Mahinda Rajapakse said the option to ban the LTTE was still open.

"We have got information that the LTTE representatives have called on the TNA (Tamil National Alliance) to return from wherever they are and be present in Parliament tomorrow to defeat the budget with the aim of bringing down the government," a top government official said seeking anonymity.

When contacted, senior TNA member Suresh Premachandran said it was not true and in fact the group, which has 22 MPs, had taken a decision to vote against the budget one month ago.

Premachandran made it clear that the TNA will vote against the Sri Lankan budget proposals for 2008 that will come up for clearance tomorrow.

"No sensible Tamil person will support the budget which has increased the defence allocation to 166.4 billion Sri Lankan Rupees, up almost 20 per cent as against last year," he said, adding "this was only to fight the LTTE."

Meanwhile, some senior political leaders said the TNA may after all not get all its MPs for a showdown and may restrict its members to vote against the budgetary proposals in Parliament.

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