With fanfare similar to that with which he began his quaint protest, the septuagenarian BJP leader broke his fast as print and electronic media cameras clicked and whizzed away at his 4, Firozshah Road residence.

(Sharma's aides took no chances; the media was informed well in advance of the momentous occasion). Chief Minister Sahib Singh a member of Sharma's clique in the highly-fissiparous state unit of the BJP was at hand to ladle the kheer and spoon-feed Sharma.

After the deed, Sahib Singh beamed like a mother at an annaprash ceremony after administering her infant's first mouthful of solids. Sharma clearly looked relieved, probably happythat his 48-hour charade was over. One state unit wag, who is widely believed to be a member of the Madan Lal Khurana camp, remarked in a stage whisper: ``Sharmaji went on a fast and Sahib Singh lost weight''. BJP general secretary M Venkaiah Naidu and several Delhi ministers too were at the spoon-feeding ceremony, each making the right noises about the ``relief all around'' that the fast had been called off.

S P Ratawal, tourism and labour minister in Sahib Singh's cabinet, panted into his press conference at Sales Tax Bhavan in ITO, half an hour behind schedule, saying he was held up by Sharma's fast-breaking ceremony and lunch-hour traffic.

Sharma said his fast, though of a short duration, had served its purpose of ``sensitising the administration,'' and he had therefore ended it.

For all the `relief' on display at 4, Firozshah Road, it is common knowledge that Sharma called off his protest because he was told to do so by his colleagues in the party's Central leadership.

Sharma's tantrum hasapparently proved counterproductive: His detractors within the party have pooh-poohed his ``attempt to get some attention in the media''.

The Opposition Congress has lampooned him for his special diet of choicest fruits while giving grain the skip.

Sharma had been feeling increasingly marginalised in Delhi politics after M Venkaiah Naidu was appointed observer to the elections of state president, as he felt that he should have been assigned that task. Moreover party workers point out that Sharma, who is the MP from Outer Delhi, has become quite unpopular in his constituency as he had not done anything worthwhile.