Rattled by signals emanating from the Jayalalitha camp, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee convened an emergency meeting of alliance partners at his residence late tonight ``to hold informal discussion on the emerging political situation''.

``The meeting decided that we all face the situation unitedly. There is no threat to the Government. We have proved our majority twice before and we are ready to do it again,'' said I&B Minister Pramod Mahajan.This came after the Government decided to dare Jayalalitha by dismissing both her demands. ``The question of reinstating Bhagwat does not arise,'' said party general secretary Venkaiah Naidu.

Vajpayee too rejected the demand to move Fernandes out of the Defence Ministry. ``George is a truly nationalist leader, how can he be a threat to national security?'' asked Naidu.

The AIADMK chief who left forChennai this evening told reporters that there was no change in her stand that Fernandes should be moved out of the Defence ministry. Mahajan snubbed this: ``Although it is the Prime Minister's prerogative to reshuffle his Cabinet, he asserted that there was no question of divesting George from the Defence Ministry or that of reinstating Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat as Navy Chief as demanded by Jayalalitha.''

Among those who attended the meeting, convened on the eve of Vajpayee's four-day visit to Mumbai and Goa, were Fernandes, Home Minister L K Advani, BJP chief Kushabhau Thakre, general secretary Venkaiah Naidu, Union Commerce Minister Ram Krishna Hegde, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Chemicals and Ferliliser Minister Surjeet Singh Barnala, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee and Haryana Chief Minister Bansi Lal.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah met the Prime Minister just before the meeting. ``The Government is stable and firm,'' said Mamata, ``whatever the Governmentdecides, we are firmly behind it.''

Mahajan ruled out the possibility of the Government acceding to the Opposition's demands for a JPC probe into the Bhagwat affair. ``Government is ready for a discussion, we have nothing to hide. If, during the discussion, a situation arises which demands a JPC probe, the Government will not shy away from it,'' he said.

Meanwhile, Jayalalitha kept sending her warning signal. Asked whether the process of new political realignments had started after Monday's ``political earthquake,'' she said, ``Perhaps ...''Sources in the AIADMK were sceptical about Jayalalitha taking the initiative to bring down the government.

They were of the view that her aggressive posturing was more of a bargaining ploy.And if she and the Congress were speaking the same language on the Bhagwat issue, it was to prevent the latter from cosying up to the DMK in Tamil Nadu as recent reports suggest. That would foreclose her option of a possible tie-up with the Congress when elections are held.

TheBJP on the other hand, has decided to play on the election-phobia of Lok Sabha MPs. ``It has to be either the Vajpayee Government or elections,'' said Venkaiah Naidu. The party has also focussed on consolidating its relations with other allies.

The BJP leaders feel that Jayalalitha might have made up her mind to part ways from the Vajpayee led coalition but did not have many options. ``When Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha and Left party leaders can't attend Swamy's tea party only because of their differences with Jayalalitha, how can they form an alternative Government with her support,'' asked a senior BJP leader adding in such eventuality mid-term elections would be the only option.

Since most of the MPs don't want a mid-term poll, a number of Opposition parties may split with splinter groups supporting the Government. ``We are sure of getting support of at least 36 others if 18 AIADMK MPs go out of the ruling coalition,'' claims chief of a party supporting the Government.The Opposition on the other hand,is pinning its hopes on the fragile unity in some of the BJP's allies like Biju Janata Dal, Akali Dal and Samata Party which may split in case the government falls.