The tide of ill will against Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori gained momentum Friday when the leader of a key coalition partner said his party may not support Mori in a no-confidence motion.

With criticism against Mori mounting even within his own Liberal Democratic Party, speculation is spreading that the LDP will accelerate toward forcing Mori to step down once passage of the fiscal 2001 budget is secured.

The ruling coalition parties -- the LDP, New Komeito and the New Conservative Party -- hope the budget clears the Lower House in early March. Although Mori's tenure as LDP president runs through late September, some party officials are suggesting that a presidential election be held earlier, possibly in April or May.

"We have not decided yet whether to vote for or against (a planned no-confidence motion)," New Komeito head Takenori Kanzaki was quoted as saying by Hirotaka Akamatsu, a senior member of the Democratic Party of Japan.

The DPJ is the largest among the opposition parties who have announced their intention to launch a no-confidence motion.

Akamatsu also quoted Kanzaki as saying, "We will make a decision after examining the circumstances and the content (of the motion)."

What's more, a senior New Komeito official told reporters "that a political tug-of-war has begun" over Mori's resignation.

The four major opposition parties plan to jointly submit a no-confidence motion against the Mori administration during the current Diet session over the recent scandals involving the prime minister and the LDP.

Mori came under renewed criticism Thursday after media reports revealed that in 1985 he accepted a 40 million yen membership at a Yokohama golf course from a business executive.

News of the membership, which emerged Thursday, may never have surfaced had Mori not been on the links Feb. 10 after a private Japanese vessel was rammed by a U.S. submarine off Hawaii and had he not decided to continue playing despite the unfolding tragedy.

His decision to play on touched off a public uproar that continued until it was eclipsed by news of the gift membership.

In yet another revelation likely to add even more fuel to the fire, a government source acknowledged Friday that Mori has been registered as a player at another golf course in Chiba Prefecture under a membership held by his acquaintance's firm. Mori has already asked that his registration be canceled, the source said.

The entire incident has been a lightning rod for criticism from outside and inside his coalition government.

Chikage Ogi, head of the New Conservative Party, the smallest coalition partner, said Friday that Mori's use of the golf membership "is quite strange when seen from the point of view of the public's common sense."

Even the LDP's No. 2 man got into the act. "It was not appropriate," LDP Secretary General Makoto Koga told reporters.

Referring to Kanzaki's remarks, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said the government's priority remains the passage of the fiscal 2001 budget -- regardless of what is said about Mori.

"We are in a critical phase in deliberating the budget (in the Lower House). We must finish it and send it to the Upper House as soon as possible," Fukuda said.

The LDP's Koga also sidestepped New Komeito's wavering support and instead stressed the importance of passing the budget by the end of March. "The three ruling parties should not create a distortion in the political situation," Koga told a regular news conference.

On Thursday, Mori's office said he received a membership at Totsuka Country Club from an executive in 1985 after the acquaintance bought it for 40 million yen.

The office contends the executive is the real owner of the membership, although it is in Mori's name. They say the prime minister borrowed it under a pact signed in 1985.

Mori told reporters at his official residence that the executive, who had two memberships at the club, offered him one so the politician could "stay in shape" after suffering back pains.

Tax authorities say a change in golf club membership with no exchange of money is considered a gift under the tax code.

The authorities said the 60 percent gift tax on golf course memberships is typically based on 70 percent of their market value. Mori has not paid any gift tax and maintains his use of the membership does not breach tax laws.