Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani on Tuesday silenced the Bharatiya Janata Party's legislators in Uttar Pradesh and asked them to cooperate with the Bahujan Samaj Party-BJP alliance in the state.

He said the party's support base had shrunk to its lowest ebb even before it entered the coalition and discontent among the legislators would only weaken the BJP further. He cited the example of the BJP placing third in the recent by-election in Haidergarh, which former chief minister Rajnath Singh had won earlier with a handsome margin, to prove his point about the slump in the party's performance in the state.

Making a brief appearance at the beginning of the state legislators' four-hour-long meeting at the residence of BJP president M Venkaiah Naidu in New Delhi, Advani sought to put a lid on the growing discontent among the party's MLAs and MLCs by explaining that their support to the coalition is not in vain.

He said that any hasty withdrawal of support from the coalition government would precipitate early assembly elections, which the party is in no position to face right now.

Naidu pointed out that half the government in the state belongs to the BJP and the party has a 50 per cent share in the Cabinet. Most of the important portfolios, including agriculture, are with the BJP, he said. "If these ministers perform properly, that itself will help the party regain its popular support," he said.

BJP spokesman Pramod Mahajan later told reporters that the party had decided to convene a separate meeting of its ministers in the state, where the high command would appraise their performance and prepare a plan to remobilize the party.

The legislators, numbering about 100, expressed their discontent with their party's relationship with the BSP. The reference to Ayodhya was feeble with only one member intervening to say, "This [Ayodhya] alone could give you 300 seats."

While Mahajan said the discontent among the legislators had been contained, insiders said speakers at the meeting cautioned the central leadership about the dangers of continuing their ties with Chief Minister Mayawati.

What has irritated the legislators is that they have to share the unpopular decisions of the BSP-led government, which survives only because the BJP continues to support it. The arrest of independent legislator Raghuraj Pratap Singh aka Raja Bhaiya under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and the indifferent attitude of the administration towards BJP legislators rankles many of them.

According to Mahajan, senior leader Lalji Tandon, minister in Mayawati's Cabinet, and state BJP president Vinay Katiyar will hold monthly meetings with the MLAs to ensure that their suggestions are being heeded by the party's ministers. But he said the stage had not been reached where action would be taken against non-performing BJP ministers and those who ignore suggestions from party MLAs.