Leading Sri Lankan businessman Lalith Kotelawala will meet LTTE leaders in October with a set of political proposals approved by both the ruling and opposition parties to resolve the conflict.

This was decided by representatives of the ruling People's Alliance (PA) coalition and the opposition United National Party (UNP) at a meeting on Wednesday organised by the Business Forum headed by Kotelawala and formed cto promote political consensus on the Tamil issue.

At the meeting, politicians from both sides agreed to give themselves till September 30 to evolve a consensus, elusive so far, on a political solution based on President Chandrika Kumaratunga's proposals of 1995.

There is no word from the LTTE yeton the latest development . But describing it as a ``major breakthrough'', constitutional affairs minister G L Peiris, the PA's main representative at the conference, said the government would try its ``utmost to iron out differences with the UNP''.

``The decision to work on a deadline to reach consensus is a progressive step towards finding a lasting solution to the country's burning issue,'' he stated.

Over the last four years, the UNP has not been able to see eye-to-eye with the PA on crucial issues in the proposals, including changing the `unitary' status of the country, the merger of the north-east and the carving out of a separate unit for Muslims.

In this, the UNP was only working to traditional script in which the opposition party has to knock down the government's initiative to resolve the ethnic conflict. Though both sides argued their differences in a parliamentary committee, no agreement could be reached. A consensus between the two is vital for the proposals to go through parliament.

Thegovernment also maintains that a unanimity between Sinhalese politicians is vital before talks with the LTTE. Last year, a section of businessmen with Kotelawala at the helm managed to drag both parties to the negotiating table once again. So far, they have been unsuccessful but hopes of finding a consensus have risen again after yesterday's meeting.

If it somehow works, the businessmen would have succeeded where a regional power like India and a world power like the UK have failed.

With the latest development, the government has for the moment dropped its controversial plan to present the proposals as a bill to parliament later this month.