Sources say Dr D'Souza had sought the home minister's advice to curb defections from the 10-member Goa Rajiv Congress (GRC), which is heading the government here. Relations between D'Souza and Narvekar worsened last week following the latter's angry letter to the Prime Minister over the state of Goa's finances. Narvekar, who is planning minister in the D'Souza government, also accused the Centre of treating Goa like a ``colony'' and threatened to launch an agitation if it was not provided special assistance.

The chief minister, who is in the process of finalising a financial package for the state to the tune of Rs 150 crore just prior to his departure to Delhi on Tuesday, threatened to crack down on the minister. ``Either he wanted to take credit for theloan or he wanted to prevent the loan from coming through,'' the chief minister said. Incidentally, the four-member Bharatiya Janata Party in the state Legislative Assembly is supporting Dr D'Souza's Goa Rajiv Congress-led coalition government.

The current spell of political activity in the state has further intensified with Congress MLAs led by Opposition leader Luizinho Faleiro preparing to meet All India Congress Committee President Sonia Gandhi in an attempt to topple the Wilfred D'Souza government. The visit, which was scheduled for Wednesday, however failed to materialise with some MLAs backing out.

The three-month-old GRC government was formed after 10 Congress legislators led by then deputy chief minister Wilfred D'Souza broke away to topple the government led by Pratapsinh Rane. However, D'Souza's old foe Narvekar, who helped the CM to garner support from several MLAs, is itching to form a government headed by himself.

That Narvekar was acting in tandem with the Congress became evident whenCongress leader Luizinho Faleiro at a press conference seconded most of the demands raised by Narvekar in his letter to the prime minister.