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BJP, allies, close ranks against Opposition onslaught

The BJP and its alliance partners tonight decided to unitedly face the opposition threat -- ''in whatever manner they try.''

This was decided at a 75-minute meeting of the allies, convened by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at his residence this evening.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, BJP spokesman M Venkaiah Naidu said the allies were confident of their numbers. ''In view of the sharp division among the opposition parties and no alternative to the Vajpayee-led coalition, we will have a majority over them.''

He said there was no need for the alliance to prove its majority in the house on its own. ''If someone is challenging, it is for them to move a no-confidence motion. As already declared by the AIADMK, the opposition should be bold enough to bring no-confidence motion,'' he said.

In Calcutta, meanwhile, Trinamul Congress leader, Mamata Banerjee, today welcomed the decision of AIADMK chief J Jayalalitha, to withdraw support to the BJP-led government.

Mamata said in Calcutta on Wednesday evening, "I am very happy Jayalalitha has ultimately done it. But the government led by Vajpayeeji will survive"

Mamata, who is in Calcutta for a day to celebrate the Bengali new years day on Thursday, will rush back to Delhi to mobilise support for the Vajpayee ministry.

She ruled out the possibility of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee resigning following the AIADMK withdrawing support and the government becoming a minority one.

Mamata described her meeting with Jayalalitha at the latter's Poes Garden residence in Madras recently as a "courtesy visit". For political observers in Calcutta Mamata's volte-face is nothing unusual as she had done it a number of times in the recent past.

Realising that there was no chance of her being wooed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi even if the Congress succeeded in forming the government, she trained her guns on the opposition party.

"The Congress is indulging in horse-trading. Two senior Congress leaders were in Calcutta recently and they offered money to our MP, Akbar Ali Khondakar. However, they will never succeed and the Vajpayee government will win the no-confidence motion in Parliament".

Arup Chanda in Calcutta and UNI

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