It was a day of mixed fortune for India's beleaguered Congress-led UPA coalition government yesterday as it braced for a confidence vote in special Lok Sabha session beginning today.

UPA got a major boost when JMM party announced its support for the trust vote while RLD and Janata Dal (Secular) joined hands with the opposition camp, leaving the ruling combine still short of the magical mark of 271.

Anxious over how to swing the number game in its favour, the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, however, got some comfort when suspended DMK member Dayanidhi Maran announced that he would toe the party line in support of the motion and Muslim Majlis party deciding to throw its lone vote in support of the motion.

The two-day special session of Parliament begins today and the confidence vote is expected to be tabled in Lok Sabha and put to vote after a debate.

UPA constituent JMM, which had been keeping the government on the tenterhooks for the last few days, Sunday ended the suspense when its chief Shibu Soren went to the residence of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi along with his four party MPs and pledged support to the government.

In return, he claimed to have got an assurance of being re-inducted into the cabinet getting coal portfolio and a berth for one of his MPs as minister of state. Soren had to quit the cabinet last year in the wake of a court summons over a 1974 murder case in his home state

of Jharkhand.

However, the jolt for the government came when Ajit Singh-led Rashtriya Lok Dal, having three members in Lok Sabha, decided to vote against the confidence vote.

Singh drove to the residence of UP BSP chief and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati in the morning and is understood to have struck a deal keeping in view the state political scene.

Another bad news for the government came when Janata Dal (S) led by former prime minister HD Deve Gowda having three Lok Sabha members also decided to vote against the confidence motion.

The opposition to government gained further momentum ahead of the trust vote with the UNPA, BSP and the Left parties jointly declaring their resolve to go for the kill.

"Our one-point programme is to oust the UPA government on July 22," said Mayawati in the presence of CPI-M General Secretary Prakash Karat and CPI leader AB Bardhan and also TDP leader N Chandrababu Naidu.

Echoing similar sentiments, Karat, who has vowed to make the Congress-led coalition bite the dust on the issue of nuclear deal, told a joint press conference that "we don't want the government to remain in power after July 22." These parties have a combined strength of 85 MPs in the Lok Sabha.

Mayawati, who has emerged as the rallying point in the move to oust UPA government and is being talked about as the next prime ministerial candidate by some parties like TRS and TDP, said the parties would decide on the future strategy on July 23, a day after the trust vote.

Atmosphere at the deliberations of the opposition parties was upbeat and Mayawati was strident in her criticism of arch detractor Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh of the Samajwati Party which has already decided to back the government.

Indian National Lok Dal's Ajay Chautala, Asom Gana Parishad's Brindavan Goswami, Jharkhand leader Babulal Marandi and CPI leader D Raja were present at the meeting.

Congress media department head Veerappa Moily said the government expected support from "unexpected quarters" and was confident of sailing through the trial of strength.

Manmohan Singh's government lost its majority in Parliament after the Left parties withdrew support because of their opposition to the nuclear deal with the United States.

Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition in Parliament LK Advani said Sunday that the crisis facing the Manmohan Singh government was of its "own making".

He said the "government has been in the Intensive Care Unit for a long time. Whether it will survive or not will be known on the night of July 22".