The divided PAC had a lengthy meeting this evening to debate the pros and cons of supporting a Congress government, but when consensus proved to be elusive, it decided to enunciate a stand keeping all its options open.

The ``secular'' alternative could mean either a Third Front government or a Congress-led coalition government. The resolution was worded with the prime objective of keeping the party intact.

The PAC has two groups, one led by JD parliamentary party leader Ram Vilas Paswan and Karnataka Chief Minister J H Patel which wants the party to be equidistant from the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party, and the other by former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda who has committed himself publicly to supporting a Congress government.

Two hours before the PAC met, Paswan made it clear at apress conference that he was against any government in which arch-rival Laloo Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal would participate. He said that in view of no clear picture emerging out of the present political crisis, the best course would be to explore the possibility of a national government headed by the vice-president. The Congress, he said, had proved that it was no different from the RJD from the way the two were trying to form a government at the Centre. He reminded Congress chief Sonia Gandhi that she should honour her promise to get the RJD to make a Dalit or a Muslim the chief minister in place of Rabri Devi. Coinciding with Paswan's statement, the Patel Cabinet adopted a resolution calling for equidistance with both the Cong and the BJP.A clarification

Rashtrapati Bhavan today clarified that President K R Narayanan did not make any comment either for or against the suggestion that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee can be invited to form a government once again. A spokesman said thePresident had been wrongly quoted in this newspaper.

n PMK chief S Ramadoss denied a report in this newspaper that he had met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and reiterated that his party would remain with the BJP-led coalition. He said his party would never support a Congress-led government.

Both errors are regretted.