An exhaust heating device can be actuated only in a limited vehicle operational state, and it is desirably actuated with high efficiency. An operation control apparatus for an internal combustion engine according to the present invention includes: an exhaust emission purifier (28); a fuel supplying valve (26) for supplying fuel to an exhaust passage (21) extending from the internal combustion engine (10) to the exhaust emission purifier; ignition means (27) for igniting the fuel supplied by the fuel supplying valve; a warm up determining section (13f) for determining whether or not the exhaust emission purifier need be warmed; an exhaust heating determining section (131) for determining whether or not the engine is in an operational state in which the fuel should be supplied to the exhaust passage and should be ignited and burned; an exhaust heating predicting section (13k) for predicting the transition from the operational state in which the fuel is supplied and should not be ignited and burned to an operational state in which the fuel should be ignited and burned; and a heat generation temperature setting section (13i) for setting the temperature of a heating portion of the ignition means based on the determination result by the exhaust heating determining section and the prediction result by the exhaust heating predicting section.