Earlier, Vajpayee forwarded the resignations to the President after a telephonic conversation with AIADMK supremo Jayalalitha to ascertain whether her decision to withdraw her party's ministers was final.

The two AIADMK ministers, Thambidurai and K M R Janarthanan, had submitted their resignations to Vajpayee on Jayalalitha's instructions on Tuesday.

Unsure of mustering the requisite support in the event of Jayalalitha's withdrawal of support, the Bharatiya Janata Party appears to be relying on contradictions within the opposition to prove its majority in the Lok Sabha.

The party's efforts to enlist support from hitherto ``unfriendly parties'' like the DMK with six MPs, TMC (three MPs), BSP (five MPs) and the Lok Dal (four MPs) to compensate the loss of 18 AIADMK members, have not elicited categorical assurances. The BJP is, therefore, hoping to exploitinternecine differences in the opposition to sail through.

The BJP believes that the Congress is not interested in running a coalition government and would rather prefer early elections. But since no party except the Congress wants elections, they will support the Vajpayee Government, directly or indirectly. The scare of mid-term polls is part of the BJP's strategy to woo fence-sitters.

``The DMK cannot be seen on the same platform as the AIADMK and the Tamil Maanila Congress too will have to follow suit due to its antipathy for Jayalalitha. Similarly, the Lok Dal leaders cannot align with the Congress,'' claimed a senior BJP leader today.

Two BJP general secretaries, K N Govindacharya and M Venkaiah Naidu camped in Chennai for two days, trying to establish contact with the DMK and the TMC leaders. The party entrusted old guard Madan Lal Khurana to persuade Lok Dal chief Om Prakash Chautala but Chautala ruled out reconsidering withdrawal of support. Feelers have been sent to BSP leaders Kanshi Ram andMayawati.

Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani's admission that parliamentary arithmetic is against the BJP, reflects the state of despondency within the party.The confusion in the BJP can be gauged from the fact that it is still unsure of Jayalalitha's next step whether she would actually withdraw support or will continue supporting the Vajpayee Government from outside without sparing any opportunity to embarrass the Government.

This is apparently the reason for the Prime Minister for not having forwarded the AIADMK resignations to the President for acceptance for two days. ``We did not want her to provide a reason for pulling out of the Government,'' Naidu told The Indian Express today.

If the BJP draws solace from anything, it is the contradictory signals emanating from the opposition. Nobody has yet announced of moving a no-confidence motion, claims a BJP leader. ``They are yet to make out the structure of an alternative Government,'' Naidu claims, ``whether the Congress will head theGovernment or the Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha and whether it will be a coalition Government or a minority Government with outside support and what will be the longevity of the alternative arrangement.''

BJP vice president K L Sharma today pointed out that the opposition lacked homogeneity present in this Government.

``The opposition parties do not trust each other, have deceived others in the past and are scared of each other,'' Sharma claimed.