NEW DELHI, Feb 12: India's cricket tour of Pakistan could be called off, postponed or be substantially curtailed, if key members of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's ruling coalition have their way on the issue , official sources said on Thursday.

Several reports say the home ministry is privately opposed to the tour on grounds of security but also because of fears of a possible defeat of the Indian team in the matches.

A foreign ministry spokesman did little to end the suspense. "I cannot speak on behalf of the home ministry," the spokesman said. "As far as we are concerned the position is that on Oct 22 last year as part of our step-by-step process for normalization of diplomatic and other links with Pakistan, the government had announced the resumption of sporting links. And within the framework of this policy, the government allows such contacts," he said.

"Decision on specific events are for the sporting association concerned or the respective boards to make," he said. And the Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) was not forthcoming either.

"We have not received any directive from the home ministry," BCCI official and opposition Congress MP Rajiv Shukla said. "There are rumours that we have been advised to cancel the tour. But these are at present only rumours." He did not say if a decision had been taken to go ahead with the matches.

Mr Shukla said the BCCI was waiting to hear from the three officials from the BCCI and the Indian home ministry now visiting Pakistan to study the security aspect of the fixtures.

Reports said Mr Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party was worried about the possible negative impact on the "feel good factor" that it was projecting to win the arriving elections, should something go wrong.

These possibilities include the scenario of a security lapse as well as a defeat in the matches, both or either of which could take the shine of the "India shining" campaign waged by the BJP.

Moreover, Mr Vajpayee's key allies, including the influential Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Mr Chandrababu Naidu, were reported to be keen to postpone the matches on the grounds that a poor show could badly swing the elections against the ruling coalition.

BJP spokesman and government minister Arun Jaitley, himself a cricket official in Delhi, washed his hands off the decision-making about the tour. "It is not for political parties to give opinions about a match fixture. That is to be decided by the sports departments concerned."

The opposition parties had already made the cricket fixture into something of a political football. "It all depends on how you feel," Congress spokesman Kapil Sibal said, emphasizing the "feel" the word that stresses the high point of the BJP poll campaign. "If you feel good the tour is on.

If you feel bad the tour is off," Mr Sibal said wryly. Former Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav said it would be a bad news if the tour was called off.

"I could understand if Pakistan did not want to play in India, because we have Shiv Sena people digging up the pitches here. But Pakistan is taking full responsibility for security of our players, so where is the problem?"

Shiv Sena chief Balasaheb Thackeray told reporters in Mumbai that he was happy the tour was likely to be called off. However, reports reaching here from Islamabad suggest that the visiting BCCI team to assess the security measures for tour has expressed satisfaction with the steps being taken by the hosts.