He told The Indian Express here today that he would take the responsibility of convincing the BJP against objecting to the JD's entry. Hegde, who will be leaving for Delhi tomorrow to attend an NDA meeting scheduled for July 31, said: ``I am sure George (Fernandes) has already spoken to the BJP (on this issue).''

Admitting that the NDA had not been consulted on the question of uniting the Lok Shakti and the Samata Party with the Janata Dal, Hegde said that Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee too felt that the NDA should have been consulted for taking into consideration ``some grass-root'' issues.

The unification of the Lok Shakti, Samata Party, Biju Janata Dal and Maneka Gandhi's party had happened ``too suddenly'', Hegde explained. ``Though talks towards this end were on for the past seven oreight months, I did not expect it to happen so quickly,'' he said. Displeased over the state BJP's stand on the JD, Hegde said the local BJP leaders had nothing to fear. ``They should trust me. There is no need for suspicion,'' he said. Hegde said there was no rift in the BJP's leadership on this issue. ``It will be very bad if there is any rift. I do not wish it,'' he said.

On whether the JD-Lok Shakti unity was meant to increase the latter's bargaining power with the BJP, Hegde shot back: ``That's a lie.'' The idea behind the unity was to reduce the number of parties in the coalition. ``Too many parties make the coalition weak,'' Hegde said. The state BJP, he said, was overconfident. ``They think we have already won the elections. That's not so. We have to fight unitedly,'' he said. The JD, Lok Shakti and the BJP fighting as separate parties would ultimately benefit the Congress, he added.The alliance between the three was meant to defeat the Congress and prevent a foreigner from becoming Prime Minister.It took little understanding to figure out that the JD-BJP-Lok Shakti combine could garner a two-thirds majority. ``But if they (BJP) want to favour the Congress, then its alright,'' he added.

Hegde refused to comment on seat-sharing within the alliance partners. Earlier in the day, Chief Minister J.H. Patel met Hegde at the latter's residence for over half-an-hour. At the end of the meeting, Patel said: ``I have left everything to Sri Ramakrishna Hegde. He will take care of it''.