Despite several telephone calls to the Andhra Chief Minister from Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee himself as well as Defence Minister George Fernandes and Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, Naidu reserved his decision and pleaded for time to ``consult'' his partymen. If the TDP does not vote along with the Government, the resolution on Bihar may not even get through the Lok Sabha, leave alone the Rajya Sabha where the numbers are against the ruling coalition in any case.

BJP leaders closeted themselves in Vajpayee's residence till late this evening to discuss the various face savers available to the Government in case the TDP fails to come around. In the meantime, the Government bought time in Parliament, which was adjourned today because of the confusioncaused by the Congress stand, by getting the Business Advisory Committee of the Lok Sabha to agree to take up only the resolution on President's Rule in Goa tomorrow. The Bihar resolution is scheduled for discussion on Thursday and voting on Friday.

However, speculation was rife in the corridors of Parliament that it may not reach that stage. After Naidu's lukewarm response this morning, Vajpayee is believed to be toying with the idea of revoking President's Rule in Bihar to avoid the humiliation of a defeat in Parliament.

The divisions in the Government on the issue surfaced at an informal meeting of the Union Cabinet this morning where Vajpayee found himself at odds with the two Samata Party ministers, George Fernandes and Nitish Kumar.

The latter spoke strongly in favour of tabling the resolution, even at the cost of a defeat, to ``expose'' the Congress party's ``double game''. Their arguments were rooted in the limited perspective of a Bihar politician for whom state considerations outweigh theCentre's crediblity.

Vajpayee is believed to have expressed the view that if the Government could not get the resolution passed in Parliament, there was not much point in continuing in office. His remark sparked off defeat, to ``expose'' the Congress party's ``double game''. Their arguments were rooted in the limited perspective of a Bihar politician for whom state considerations outweigh the Centre's credibility.

Vajpayee is believed to have expressed the view that if the Government could not get the resolution passed in Parliament, there was not much point in continuing in office. His remark sparked off rumours and a report by an international news agency that the Prime Minister had threatened to quit on the Bihar issue. BJP spokesperson Venkaiah Naidu later denied the report.But the mood in the Government was clearly low. Home Minister L K Advani, whose image has taken a severe beating in this crisis, was himself unsure about the strategy the Government should adopt.

Although he seemed inclined to goalong with the Samata Party's insistence on a showdown in Parliament, he is acutely aware of Vajpayee's obvious reluctance to bring matters to a humiliating head.

Vajpayee's stand prompted the second meeting in the evening where the BJP leadership discussed fallback strategies including ways of postponing the Bihar motion.

At the same time, Government managers are working frantically on the TDP so that the Bihar resolution can be ratified by the Lok Sabha. The argument is that approval of a House directly elected by the people would at least restore the Government's moral authority even if the defeat in the Rajya Sabha eventually reinstates the Rabri Devi Government.

With this in mind, the BJP today attempted to give the issue a political colour, turning it into a Government versus Congress battle instead of a debate on Article 356. Venkaiah Naidu's press briefing was a tirade against the Congress party's ``doublespeak'' in the hope that this argument would help the TDP come on board.

So far, it hasnot cut any ice with Babu whose only concerns today are the forthcoming assembly polls in his State and the minority vote. TDP sources argued that if the Bihar resolution was going to be defeated in the Rajya Sabha then there was no point in tabling it in the Lok Sabha. They also recalled that in 1984, NT Rama Rao was first dismissed from the Chief Minister's post and then reinstated after the Congress failed to defeat him in the Assembly.