The meeting among Gowda, Patel and senior JD leader S R Bommai this evening did not take place, with the former prime minister refusing to go ahead with the talks.

The three, however, held a brief tele-conference at which they decided that party chief Sharad Yadav should complete the formality of having consultations with national leaders as well.

Patel's ministerial colleagues, who met Gowda in the morning, returned with the impression that he had reconciled to the inevitability of the Chief Minister continuing in office. He suggested that the government and the party get cracking in view of the Assembly elections and that senior leaders should begin touring the State.

But when they met him for a second time in the evening, Gowda seemed to have changed tack. While not making it explicit that hewanted Patel out, he told them some senior ministers should ``sacrifice'' their ministerial positions and take up party work ahead of Assembly elections due late next year. This was his way of asking for the head of those ministers he had been targetting for some time now.

But sources close to the Chief Minister told The Indian Express that there was no way Patel would oblige Gowda by sacking some ministers. Nor was he prepared to concede the other demand for replacement of a key official in the Chief Minister's secretariat. Apparently realising he had pushed himself into a corner with Patel refusing to accept any of the ``unrealistic demands,'' Gowda chose to let the crisis linger on. Last month's JD legislature party resolution came in handy to achieve this. According to that resolution, Sharad Yadav had been authorised to consult not only the State leaders but national leaders as well before taking a decision to resolve the crisis.

Karnataka JD chief B L Shankar told reporters after the eveningmeeting with Gowda that Yadav would begin the process of consultations with national leaders right away. But since many of them are away from the Capital, it would have to wait a while longer.

Shankar did not rule out the possibility of Yadav calling a meeting of the party's political affairs committee to discuss the crisis.

At best, he was willing to add some more members suggested by Gowda to his Ministry.