Gorakhpur: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on June 8 hinted at early Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh.

Mercurial low caste leader Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party-led coalition is supported by the BJP.

The embattled government is facing an onslaught from Samajwadi Party, the state’s main Opposition, which has declared its intentions to topple the government.

Another regional party, Rashtriya Lok Dal, recently withdrew support to the government after its leader Ajit Singh was dropped in a Cabinet reshuffle by Vajpayee.

"If anyone tries to make the state government unstable, then we will call for early elections," BJP's state president Vinay Katiyar said in Gorakhpur.

Leading a Jan Jagaran Yatra, Katiyar is criss-crossing the state to garner support for his party ahead of the 2004 general elections.

Chief Minister Mayawati, currently on a U S tour, has discounted any threat to her government as the combined Opposition strength is below the halfway mark needed to vote out the government in a House of 404 members.

Home to over 166 million people -- roughly the population of Brazil -- Uttar Pradesh is India's political driving seat.

It sends 80 lawmakers to the 545-seat Lok Sabha and it was also the launching pad to national prominence for the BJP in the early 1990s.

ANI