The question doing the rounds in the country is: Will President KR Narayanan ask Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to seek a vote of confidence in the event of Jayalalitha pulling out of the coalition government? Or will he leave it to the opposition parties to push for a motion of no-confidence?As the major opposition political parties are having to contend with these imponderables, Jayalalitha herself carried on with the demolition spree, meeting politicians of various parties to push through her avowed agenda.

Even as political pundits are busy working out the number games, the flux political situation impacted both stock and forex markets to some extent.At the Bombay Stock Exchange, the undertone was one of caution. The market opened on a weak note, awaiting theoutcome of the Delhi drama enacted by Jayalalitha. Consequently, volumes were low as most scrips moved sideways.

The Sensex remained more or less at yesterday's closing level at 3,464.52 points against Monday's close of 3,463.77 points. The S&P CNX Nifty closed 3.95 points lower at 993.25 points. The silver lining was that volume of business at BSE was higher at Rs 1,442.14 crore compared to Rs 1,332.55 crore recorded on Monday. This spurt was primarily on account of shifting of positions from the NSE where it was last day of the trading cycle. The scene at the forex market was not different. Though it is largely dictated by the demand-supply position, the political uncertainty, to some extent, did make players jittery. Thus, the rupee hit an intra-day low of 42.78 against the dollar before recovering to close at 42.74/76-the lowest since the August 1998 crisis.

The six-month annualised forward cover went higher in tune with the weakening in the spot rupee to close at 7.20 per cent from its last close at6.99 per cent. The State Bank of India sold dollars reportedly amounting to $50 million between 42.76 and 42.78 levels. Dealers expect the rupee to quote lower in the 42.75 to 42.85 band against the dollar on Thursday.

In the Capital, Jayalalitha wasted no time. She was closeted with the Republican Party of India (RPI) chief RS Gavai. Along with her was Janata Party leader and her close ally Subramanian Swamy. Gavai, it is learnt, assured her of unstinted support to topple the Vajpayee Government.

The AIADMK supremo was waiting to meet Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and the two Yadavs-Mulayam and Laloo-apart from the left leaders. Although no time has been fixed for a meeting with Sonia, she is likely to meet her in the next two days.

Jayalalitha is also likely to meet President KR Narayanan shortly after formally announcing her withdrawal decision. She will have to hand over a letter to the President formally for pulling out of the coalition arrangement.

Pushing her agenda is, of course, her man FridaySubramanian Swamy who, on Tuesday, met Narayanan and handed over a memorandum requesting him to ask Vajpayee to seek a confidence vote for his Government. He cited instances when the president had to direct the prime minister for a confidence vote in similar circumstances before.

The beleaguered BJP was trying to put up a brave front mainly on the supposition that no MP wanted a mid-term poll and that any attempt to destabilise the Government would propel a large number of them to rush for support.

"Let me assert that we have the support. We will demonstrate it as and and when required," said BJP general secretary and party spokesman Venkaiah Naidu at his party's daily briefing on Tuesday. He said that they were getting indications of support from political groups which do not want mid-term poll and were in favour of a stable government.

Information and broadcasting minister Pramod Mahajan discounted all possibilities of the President asking for a confidence vote, judging by the manner in which he askedthe minority BJP to lead the Government.

The Congress, on its part, is playing its cards close to its chest, but was eagerly awaiting formal withdrawal of support from Jayalalitha. Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday fielded senior party colleage Arjun Singh to brief the press on the political situation.

Said Singh: "The Congress has maintained that we are not in the toppling game and, if and when the Vajpayee government collapses under the weight of its own contradictions, the party will discharge its constitutional responsibilities."

Lauding the efforts of the opposition parties to bring down the Government, Singh said his party had regard for all secular parties which are indicating their willingness to bring down the coalition rule.

Both Laloo Yadav's RJD and Mulayam's Samajwadi Party are holding separate meetings here on Wednesday to chalk out their final strategy to be adopted on the floor of Parliament. On its part, the DMK is also holding its executive meet in Chennai to decide finally if it would supportthe BJP government. Both Vajpayee and home minister LK Advani have spoken to DMK chief M Karunanidhi asking for his party's support.

Significantly, defence minister George Fernandes also met President Narayanan on Tuesday for 40 minutes and reportedly explained to him his version regarding the Vishnu Bhagwat controversy. Fernandes has been in the eye of a storm ever since the former naval chief was given marching orders by the BJP-led Government.