``The Telugu Desam was, of course, born out of anti-Congressism. But we will play only a positive and not negative role at the Centre,'' Naidu told reporters in Hyderabad.

He also said that his party, which had extended outside support to the BJP at the Centre, will not have any ``tie-up'' with the BJP ``in any form.'' ``Following the collapse of the Vajpayee government, our issue-based support to it now ceases to exist,'' he said.

Ruling out the possibility of extending support to any government led by the Congress, the chief minister dismissed the charge of the Left parties that he should own moral responsibility for the fall of the Vajpayee government and quit. ``Why should I take the responsibility? In fact, the line taken by DMK and Farooq Abdullah has vindicated my stand to opposeCongress,'' he said.

Addressing party functionaries at two separate meetings, Naidu criticised the Congress for frequently precipitating ``political instability'' at the national level and plunging the economy into a crisis.

He said that the country's image before the international community had been lowered following the fall of Vajpayee government by a margin of one vote in Lok Sabha. Economy would be the first victim of the political turmoil, he felt.

``The Congress knows fully well that it cannot provide a stable government. Yet, they joined hands with heterogeneous political groups to destabilise the BJP-led government,'' Naidu said. He lashed out at Congress leaders for trying to split TDP MPs in Lok Sabha.

``Congress has not learnt any lesson from the JMM pay-off case. The latest episode bared the Congress designs,'' he said. The chief minister made it clear that all the 11 TDP MPs were intact and would continue to oppose the Congress.

Urging the partymen not to be demoralised by the fall ofthe BJP at the Centre and the possibility of Congress' ascension to power, Naidu said: ``I have full confidence that our voters would re-elect us with a bigger margin going by our performance in the last four years''.