NEW DELHI, April 29: Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s coalition government appeared to be safe but nervous on Monday after a senior cabinet member resigned over the communal upsurge in Gujarat.

Coal and Mines Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, a Dalit leader, quit after accusing the government of bringing the country to international ridicule in the ongoing anti-Muslim violence said to be fomented by the state’s BJP administration.

Vajpayee’s two other allies, the Telugu Desam Party of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah’s National Conference were expected to declare their hands shortly before Tuesday’s opposition-led censure motion.

There were reports that Paswan had timed exit to signal his unhappiness with the Bharatiya Janata party’s alliance in Uttar Pradesh with a rival Dalit party of Mayawati.

Paswan’s spokesman said he resigned to express his resentment over the handling of the situation in Gujarat by the centre and by the Narendra Modi government.

He told a news channel that Lok Janshakti will not participate in the NDA meeting before Tuesday’s crucial vote and that it would also vote against the government in the House.

Paswan’s resignation came just hours before a Monday meeting of the NDA allies to discuss the strategy of the ruling alliance.

There were reports that contrary to the widely shared speculation of tension and discomfort, the prime minister was feeling quite at home as in the past three days he has met practically all the top brass of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

In a steady stream, heavyweights K.S. Sudarshan, H.V. Seshadri, Madan Das Devi, Bal Apte have trooped in for discussions Vajpayee.

“It’s almost like a homecoming for him. It’s much more than just RSS leaders connecting with the prime minister,” said India Today Editor Prabhu Chawla in a column.

Chawla, an old BJP supporter, said: “They (the RSS) are connecting with him in a way that self-professed liberals would find difficult to stomach and relative hardliners difficult not to applaud.”

Ever since the BJP National Executive meeting in Goa earlier this month, Vajpayee has listened very closely to what people he had earlier distanced had to say. In part, it has to do with government’s economic policy and the selection of bureaucrats, Chawla said.

The feeling among top RSS leadership is that key bureaucrats, particularly in the Prime Minister’s Office, the ministry of finance and the ministry of external affairs, are not loyal to the present government.

The BJP’s alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party of Mayawati in Uttar Pradesh and its backing of her chief ministerial candidature as chief minister is seen as a move to placate the RSS. The organization’s leaders wanted her as chief minister to use Dalits to counter moves by Muslims in Uttar Pradesh to pitch in with Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Largely thanks to Mayawati that the NDA on Monday said it was confident of shaking off the combined opposition challenge in the Lok Sabha despite the Lok Jan Shakti severing ties with the coalition.

NDA Convener George Fernandes said that the alliance was confident of defeating the opposition-sponsored motion, which called for a debate on Gujarat under rule 184.

In a House with an effective strength of 540, the government has taken the worst case scenario of 28-member TDP and five-member National Conference abstaining from the voting. The 11-member AIADMK of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha has already decided to remain neutral in the voting.

With that the effective strength of the House would come down to 496. Minus TDP, NC and four-member Paswan-headed Lok Jan Shakti, the government would require 249 to cross the half-way mark.

With 275 members already in its support, the government has also managed the backing of its new ally, the 13-member BSP, which would take the total NDA support to a cushy 288.

The TDP seems to be keeping the Vajpayee government in suspense about its strategy on voting on the opposition-sponsored censure motion.

TDP leader Naidu is understood to have told a meeting of his party that he would wait for the Prime Minister’s reply on the motion in the Lok Sabha before firming up which way to vote on the motion.

The Trinamool Congress demanded the resignation of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, but said it would support the Government when the issue comes for up voting in the Lok Sabha.

The Congress Party has termed the censure motion an acid test for all political parties and denied any plans to contact any of the NDA allies.—JN