Vajpayee said that the leaders of the Samata Party and the Lok Shakti, in their own wisdom, may have done so to strengthen the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the government. But he was never told about it.He felt that being part of the NDA, Fernandes and Hegde should have consulted the BJP to mutually assess the full impact of the move in Karnataka, Bihar, Orissa and in other states before going public. Since this was not done, the issue be discussed at the next meeting of the NDA.

Vajpayee made these remarks when Jana Krishnamurthy, BJP's vice president, met him this morning to present drafts worth Rs 3.75 lakhs for the PM's Fund on behalf of Kochi's Shankaracharya. The issue of Samata-Lok Shakti-JD merger cropped up during the meeting.

Vajpayee alsoexplained that his much-talked about photograph with J H Patel with others was in his capacity as Karnataka Chief Minister and no political issues were discussed.

When contacted, Krishnamurthy confirmed that he had met the PM. But declined to divulge details of his talks with Vajpayee. However, Krishnamurthy did brief his party colleagues about the talks he had with the PM.

When contacted another senior party functionary, Krishanlal Sharma, said that the NDA meeting would take up the issue of proceedures to be adopted by constituents of the Alliance in such matters. ``There is nothing wrong in the unity as such. But the BJP is a force to reckon with in Bihar and Karnataka. The NDA constituents should have consulted the BJP leaders,'' he said.

To another question, Sharma said the situation in Karnataka was different compared to Bihar where Laloo Prasad Yadav had to be isoltade completely. Sharma said the issue would certainly be resolved to satisfaction of all.

The Lok Shakti had already said that the``merger'' would be discussed only after the polls. The BJP leadership is set to assess the political situation on Monday when party chief Kushabhau Thackre and Home Minister L K Advani return to the Capital. While the Bihar unit of the BJP has broadly favoured the unity, its Karnataka unit has taken a tough stand by saying that if J H Patel is part of the new outfit, it would prefer to go it alone. Perhaps, simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the Assembly in Karnataka has created ``some confusion'' which would be resolved, said another BJP functionary.