Ending its national executive meeting on an aggressive note, the political resolution stated, ``the executive resolves not to allow the mandate of 1998 to be subverted as it was in 1996.'' While calculated to reassure nervous party cadres it also indicated that the BJP is preparing a contingency plan in the event of Jayalalitha withdrawing support.

``We will have a majority,'' declared Home Minister L.K. Advani at a press conference when questioned about the situation if the AIADMK pulled out.Interestingly, the Jayalalitha issue hardly figured during the three-day meeting of the BJP's apex decision-making body, although it was on everybody's minds. Sources said that it was tentatively raised by a few members yesterday but that the topleadership quashed any discussion saying that it was best to ignore it.

Even the political resolution did not contain a word about the problems arising out of frequent threats by AIADMK but had them apparently in mind when it spoke of the need for better coordination among the allies for improving the coalition government's performance.

However, it is learnt that several private discussions did take place on how to handle the situation. A senior leader revealed that it was felt that the performance of the government and its credibility were suffering due to the repeated crisis caused by Jayalalitha. Today, the BJP announced a country-wide two-month campaign led by party president Kushabhau Thakre to highlight the government's achievements and expose the disinformation campaign of its political rivals.

Despite the party's disenchantment with the AIADMK, a senior leader said that ties would not be severed until the ``appropriate moment'' -- meaning until the BJP is confident that it has the requirednumbers. For now, leaders told national executive members, the BJP would reply Jayalalitha in the same coin. It is learnt that both Advani and the PM admitted that their silence in the face of her criticism had damaged the image of the government. ``We will not remain quiet now,'' they reportedly said.

According to the party's calculations, the government would be only five short of a majority in the Lok Sabha if the AIADMK (18 MPs) and the Janata Party (1 MP) go out of the coalition.

It is believed that the AIADMK's other allies (MDMK, PMK and TRC) will support the government. The government does not need to make up the entire number as it currently has seven more than the Lok Sabha's halfway mark of 272.

The BJP believes that the DMK (6 MPs) will support the government. Five BJP MPs have been elected in elections that took place after Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee proved his majority in the Lok Sabha, plus two MPs have been nominated. However, one MP (Chandubhai Deshmukh) has died. ``We needonly five MPs. We can manage that,'' said a member of the executive.

Meanwhile, the three-day national executive of the party singled out the Congress leadership for its ``political myopia'' and assailed coming together of ``casteist and communal elements'' in the newly-formed Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha.

A four-page political resolution adopted by the executive referred to the emerging polarisation and said the Opposition parties were now ``ganging up to try and subvert the people's mandate'' through an ``unholy alliance of corrupt and unscrupulous politicians and their near non-existent parties''.The resolution adopted in the absence of the Prime Minister, who left for Delhi yesterday, said the Congress had no compunctions about seeking a common cause with the Left and found it amusing that CPI-M has ceased to see Congress as the main enemy.