The ruling Liberal Democratic Party was plunged into further turmoil Saturday, only one day after party heavyweight Koichi Kato intensified the pressure on embattled Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori by saying he has no plans to defend Mori in the event of a no-confidence motion.

Leaders of the LDP's mainstream factions -- including former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, who leads the largest faction, and Junichiro Koizumi, who chairs the Mori group -- met Saturday evening in Tokyo and confirmed their united stance to support Mori's administration.

The meeting was also attended by Takami Eto, who heads the Eto-Kamei faction, as well as Hideo Usui, representing the former Komoto faction, and Taro Aso, head of a group led by Foreign Minister Yohei Kono. Earlier in the day in Fukuoka, Kato reiterated his intention to abstain in the no-confidence motion should it be submitted by the opposition. His longtime ally within the LDP, Taku Yamasaki, was quick to throw his support behind the decision.

"I haven't changed my mind," Kato told reporters in Fukuoka on Saturday morning. "Newspapers have given substantial coverage (to his move) and this, I believe, reflects public sentiment calling for change."

Kato, a former secretary general of the LDP, leads the second largest faction in the party.

Yamasaki, former LDP policy chief, expressed his willingness to follow Kato's lead, saying "Mr. Kato has cut off the path of his own retreat and I have no choice but to cut off mine." The two conferred Friday in Fukuoka.

Asked how he would act on the expected no-confidence motion, however, Yamasaki said, "There will be various moves before (opposition parties) actually submit the motion and I would like to decide what to do based on those moves."

The two factions, led by Kato and Yamasaki, have a total of 64 Lower House members. Should they all abstain, the ruling coalition would be left with 208 seats in the chamber, short of a majority in the 480-seat chamber.

Fanning the flames in the LDP, Yukio Hatoyama, leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, urged Kato to leave the LDP and cooperate with the largest opposition force.

"Simply abstaining (in the no-confidence motion) is not enough," Hatoyama told a news conference in Tomakomai, Hokkaido. "(He and his faction members) should vote in favor of the motion and leave the LDP (to clarify their stance). Then, we're ready to cooperate."

Indeed, some hardliners within the Kato faction are demanding more decisive action against the Prime Minister, one senior member saying, "We'd like to consider the possibility of pulling our members out of the Cabinet."

Within the Cabinet, Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa, Transport Minister Hajime Morita and Labor Minister Yoshio Yoshikawa belong to the Kato faction.

At the moment, however, it remains unclear to what extent Kato will stick to his hardline position as other members are voicing concerns over the intensifying confrontation with other LDP factions.

Kato, who met with senior members of his faction Saturday afternoon in Tokyo, plans to meet Miyazawa today and seek support for his actions. Miyazawa is honorary chairman of the Kato faction.

Asked about the possibility of the emergence of a Kato-led administration, one senior official of the Hashimoto faction said, "That's absolutely impossible under LDP rules."

"Now is not a time for tottering," Usui also said as he emerged from the meeting of the five factions. "We have a number of key bills, including that for the supplementary budget, that need to be passed in the Diet."

Earlier Saturday, LDP Secretary General Hiromu Nonaka and former Chief Cabinet Secretary Mikio Aoki -- members of the Hashimoto faction -- discussed countermeasures on the bullet train as they headed for a party in Kyoto.

Senior members in the Mori faction, including Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda and Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe, also held a meeting Saturday morning in Tokyo, faction sources said.

In a telephone conversation Saturday with Abe, former Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said his faction will continue to support the Mori Cabinet, the sources revealed.

The Eto-Kamei faction also held a meeting to discuss Kato's stance. Kato said late Friday, "Even though I'm an LDP lawmaker, it is hard to support the Mori Cabinet, to which 75 percent of the people are opposed, by voting against a no-confidence motion."

In a public opinion survey by Kyodo News released Oct. 31, the disapproval rate for the Mori Cabinet stood at 67 percent, with only 18 percent of the public indicating support for the government.

A poll by the Mainichi Shimbun on Oct. 28-29 indicated an approval rate of 15 percent and a disapproval rate of 58 percent.

The opposition camp -- the DPJ, the Liberal Party, the Japanese Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party -- jointly holds 190 in the Lower House. The ruling camp has 272, including 64 held by those of the Kato and Yamasaki factions.