In what amounted to pointing a finger directly at the PM, she said in statement from Chennai that persons very close to him had been paid ``hefty bribes'' to remove Bezbaruah by ``the owners of a well-known group of publications who are facing several FERA cases which Bezbaruah was pursuing''Reacting to reports from Chennai, the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) termed Jayalalitha's allegation as ``baseless and unfortunate''. ``Administrative reshuffle is a normal exercise. The recent changes have been effected by the Centre neither to make any one a scapegoat nor to appease any quarters,'' a statement issued tonight by the PMO said.

In astatement today, Defence Minister George Fernandes said that Jayalalitha had not made any demands when he met her in Chennai two days ago. The transfers had not been done under any pressure from any quarter, he said, adding that Bezbaruah's transfer had not figured during the talks. ``As far as I am aware, this was part of a reshuffle in which several secretaries figured.''

Jayalalitha's strong statement is being viewed in some quarters as an indication that she is paving the way for withdrawal of support, regardless of her allies. BJP leaders, however, felt that her statement was a ``political counter'', aimed at saving face. But none of them was willing to hazard a guess as to what Jayalalitha's next step might be.

BJP leader K.L. Sharma admitted in Hyderabad today that the crisis gripping the Vajpayee Government following the AIADMK's threat to review support was not yet over. ``I am not saying the crisis is over but we are confident of managing it. But further acceleration of the crisis is ruledout,'' he said.

In Chennai, PMK leader S Ramadoss said this evening that he was ``fairly certain'' that Jayalalitha would not withdraw the AIADMK Front's support to the government. ``Our support will continue. She will announce the good news shortly,'' he said. The Congress was not prepared to form the government, but only wanted elections, he said. ``We want this government to continue. I think we have prevailed on her not to withdraw support,'' he said.

At informal meetings yesterday, leaders of the PMK, MDMK amd TRC conveyed to Jaya their reluctance to pull out of the BJP Government. They pointed out that Sonia had not shown the green signal and that they would be left out in the cold if the Government managed to stay in power despite the AIADMK withdrawal.

Following this, today's meeting of the AIADMK Front (at which the BJP earlier feared that a decision would be taken to withdraw support) was cancelled. Instead Jayalalitha met her own MPs and party leaders. Here too, AIADMK MPs are reported tohave pointed out they would not get popular support if they brought down the Government on the Cauvery dispute; that the Cauvery accord was now not an issue with the people of Tamil Nadu.