Party general secretary M Venkiah Naidu put it thus at today's press briefing: ``There had been a ``tremendous'' response from the people to her becoming the CM. ``This indicates appreciation of our view that the people of Delhi needed to be given a clear indication of who will be their CM after the elections,'' he said.

The BJP National Executive had decided in August that no one would be projected as the chief ministerial candidate in Delhi, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. In response to a question, Naidu said that the party would decide ``at the appropriate time'' on whether to project any one leader in the other two states.

Talking about projecting leaders,BJP departed from norm on another count. In another departure from the tradition that announcing the names of ministers is the Prime Minister's prerogative, Naidu proclaimed at today's party briefing that Sahib Singh Verma would be accommodated in the Union Cabinet ``soon''.

The vital question now is whether the PM will induct Singh now or wait until after November when a full-scale Cabinet expansion is expected, since Verma's exit has put Delhi's influential Jat votebank in a precarious position.

Consequently, the BJP may be forced to concede more assembly seats than it would like to allies like the Haryana Lok Dal, Akali Dal and Samata Party. Given the situation, the BJP may at best be looking at a repeat of the scenario at the Centre : a coalition government in Delhi.

Among the allies, the HLD, in particular, is flexing its muscles and pushing for seat adjustment in Delhi because of its hold over the Jats. After announcing this morning that the party would review its support to the Vajpayeegovernment because the BJP had installed an ``anti-farmer'' chief minister in Singh's place, Om Prakash Chautala met the Prime Minister and retracted the statement. Now the HLD is to meet on October 17 to discuss the situation.

The Akali Dal and Samata Party, too, are demanding a goodly share in seats. So far, the BJP has been acting tough but now it may have little elbow room in view of its uncertain poll prospects in Delhi. The Delhi Jat Mahasabha passed a resolution today condemning Singh's ouster.

The BJP headquarters at Ashoka Road continued to have heavy police bandobast for the third day today as leaders feared the wrath of Singh's turbulent Jat supporters who had gheraoed BJP President Kushabhau Thakre on Saturday and demonstrated before the party's top leadership yesterday.

Meanwhile, Venkaiah Naidu (who is also in charge of the Delhi elections) found himself on the firing line at the party briefing today. His statement that Singh would be accommodated in the Cabinet came in forcriticism. Though he insisted that he had been directed by the PM to make the announcement, it was pointed out that when J Jayalalitha had announced the names of AIADMK MPs who would be ministers -- ahead of Cabinet formation -- she had been criticised for infringing on the PM's prerogative.

It is understood that the announcement was made at the insistence of Singh, who had demanded a formal acknowledgement of the assurance given to him by the party leadership. Denying that Singh had been removed, Naidu insisted that he had resigned of his own volition. ``His services were deemed necessary in the Union Cabinet,'' Naidu claimed.

Again, asked if changing a chief minister after the elections had been announced did not amount to violating the Election Commission's code of conduct, Naidu denied this. ``It is the legal right of political parties to change a leader at any time. Governments have the right to do whatever they want until the last day,'' he said, adding that the elections had not yet beennotified.