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Politics Business Expressions General Sports Leisure States 09 March 1998   Left accepts defeat, readies for long war The Left Front yesterday conceded the battle for New Delhi to the BJP, but prepared to stake out for the long war ahead by announcing that "Left, democratic and secular forces" would oppose any motion of confidence by the BJP in Parliament. CPM leader HKS Surjeet also ruled out his party's preference for new polls at a press conference.   Jaya's support to BJP unconditional AIADMK leader J Jayalalitha has made it clear that her party would extend unconditional support to a BJP-led government at the Centre but ruled out joining it. After her discussion with BJP leaders, she said she had left it to her allies about their participation in the BJP coalition but said they had decided to toe her line. Laloo too joins anti-saffron brigade at Centre Pulling up the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for dancing to the tune of multinational companies, Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Laloo Prasad Yadav yesterday said that the communal forces will not be allowed to form the Government at the Centre. Laloo also announced his "unconditional" support to the Congress or even a United Front-led government. Jaswant for finance, Advani may get home L K Advani and Jaswant Singh are emerging as frontrunners for the home and finance portfolios respectively as the BJP gets down to the business of government formation in anticipation of the call from Rashtrapati Bhavan later this week. However, the proposed Vajpayee cabinet will take final shape only after the ongoing negotiations with Jayalalitha, Mamata Banerjee and Chandrababu Naidu to join the government reach a conclusion.   Projects worth Rs 1,78,600 cr stalled As many as 150 new projects worth over a whopping amount of Rs 1,78,600 crore have failed to take off in the last two years, giving a big blow to the industrial development of the country. A host of reasons ranging from the depression in the capital market, demand recession in various segments and ambiguous government policies have led to the stalling of these projects. BJD to extend unconditional support to BJP Biju Janata Dal (BJD) Parliamentary party leader Navin Patnaik told Atal Behari Vajpayee yesterday that his party would extend "unconditional" support to his government. Patnaik, however, said that the BJD was "yet" to decide on its participation in the BJP-led ministry.   LEISURE   Husain's horses win at Wadia Gold Cup   East meets West: Fusion with a vision SPORTS   Steffi Graf continues march to summit   Two-run win for New Zealand EXPRESSIONS   Needless aggression   Hegde's revenge BUSINESS   MRTPC slaps notices on Tata IBM, Tangerine   Inflation drops to 5.19 per cent GENERAL   Silent majority has no cause to celebrate Women's Day   Probe into "police excesses" in Dindigul POLITICS   Marak confident as floor test draws near   BJP, Mamata pledge to oust CPM from WB