REDIFF NEWS 

Bangalore, Jul 20: The Janata Dal Secular, which had kept everyone guessing about its stance during the trust vote on July 22, confirmed on Sunday that it would vote against the United Progressive Alliance government.

"Our decision is final and there is no way in which we will support the Congress," JD-S Member of Parliament Shivanna M told on Sunday morning.

Shivanna also confirmed that there were no demands made by Gowda or any of his party members during their meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh .

"Our party has certain principles and it would be against them if we went ahead and voted for the UPA," he said.

He added that all the three MPs of the JD-S were united in their stand and there was no difference of opinion among them. The JD-S believed that a strong third front will emerge from the present political crisis and Shivanna expressed confidence that his party would be a part of it.

"I am sure that the third front will be a strong contender in the forthcoming elections and all of us need to stay united in order to make that a reality," he added.

Although party supremo Deve Gowda had already indicated that his party would vote against the UPA, the Congress made a last ditch attempt to win him over.

On Sunday morning, Congress leader from Andhra Pradesh T Subbirami Reddy met  Gowda and tried to coax him to vote for the government.

However, sources said that Gowda remained firm about his stand and conveyed the same to Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu and Communist Party of India leader D Raja, after their meeting on Saturday night.