He said the initiatives being taken by him and Samata Party chief George Fernandes was to prevent a "foreign national from becoming prime minister".When his attention was drawn to the stiff opposition by Karnataka unit BJP leaders to the Dal entry into NDA, the Union commerce minister said "those who do not wish Vajpayee to complete a five-year tenure as prime minister are opposing it." Hegde urged state unit BJP leaders not to have anyapprehensions and cooperate.

Patel, who spoke later, said he had left the "entire issue" to Hegde and expressed confidence that his faction would be a part of the NDA.Earlier, state unit Lok shakti president Jeevarajalva had confabulations with Patel and Byre Gowda and later took them to Hegde's residence for discussions. The state unit BJP, at its office-bearers meeting on Friday, had passed a unanimous resolution, urging the party high command not to have any link with the Dal faction.

The state unit had also urged the high command to continue its tie up with Lok Shakti in Karnataka. Hegde said the performance of the coalition government in the past 13 months and the Kargil victory would definitely be focussed in the campaign. He charged Congress did not show even a `grain of patriotism'. Congress proved to be a `bunch of traitors', he alleged adding that the party was responsible for giving several square kms of Indian territory to Pakistan and China earlier. Asked whether Sonia Gandhi's foreign originwould be an issue in the campaign, he said "every child in the country today is speaking about it".

To a question whether he had any plans to enter Karnataka politics by projecting himself as the next chief minister, Hegde said he never had any such plan. "I face the situation as it comes. I was never ambitious for any particular post in my life".