TMC leader GK Moopanar remained adamant yesterday about remaining out of the IK Gujral-led government, although a section of his party colleagues seemed to want to stay in. Gujral seemed determined to persuade the TMC to join. I am moving from hope to confidence, he said yesterday evening.

Outgoing finance minister P Chidambaram was said to be under pressure, from industry, investors and politicians of various parties, to remain in the government. Some Front leaders yesterday said they were sure he would be persuaded to take the oaths of office along with Gujral this morning.

There was speculation that, if the TMC did not relent, industry minister Murasoli Maran could get the finance portfolio. The DMK was said to have asked for that in lieu of its decision to remain within the government, despite persuastion by its Tamil ally, the TMC, to stay out with it.

If the rift between the TMC and the rest of the Front remains unbridged, the party could sooner or later return to the Congress, from which it split before the 1996 elections. The point at issue is in any case the stand of some Front leaders that Moopanar remained essentially a Congressman and could return to that party. The point was made by Left and some regional party leaders.

Aware for the potential for a break, Front leaders pleaded with Moopanar yesterday to reconsider his decision. Front convenor Chandrababu Naidu, called on him twice. M Karunanidhi and IK Gujral were among other callers

Though Moopanar signed the letter written by the Front constituents to the President, to inform him of their unanimous decision at the Steering Committee to elect Gujral as their leader, he did not join the Front delegation to the President a little later. Floor leader SR Balasubramaniam went on behalf of his party.

The TMC's 20 MPs also marked their pique by staying away from the Parliamentary Group meeting of the UF MPs, which was held earlier in the morning to formally elect Gujral the leader.

On Saturday, Moopanar had been late for the steering committee meeting, and stayed away from it yesterday aftternoon. No other leader represented his party at yesterday's meeting.

Later, the TMC parliamentary party leader issued a five page statement in Tamil explaining the reasons behind his party's stand to stay away from the goverment.

Speaking of the role of the TMC in the formation of the Front last year, the statement said no-one raised the question of Moopanar being a Congressman then. Raising such an issue now, when he was in the running for the prime minsitership, amounted to insulting him. It is for this reason that the party was not participatting in the governnment.

Apart from the pressure from Front constituents, sources in Front expressed hope on the grounds that pressure might also build up within the party to reconsider the view. The party is under pressure from industry and others to reconsider.

Its decision due the fact that finance minsiter P Chidambaram's fate is directly affected by the TMC decisions.