With only nine days to go for the implementation of conditional access system in the four metros, Madan Lal Khurana, chief of the Delhi chapter of the Bharatiya Janata Party asserted on Friday that the capital would be spared for the moment.

Khurana, party's chief ministerial candidate for the coming Assembly polls, claimed that he had virtually been assured by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani that CAS would not be implemented in Delhi along with the other metros on September 1.

"I have talked to the prime minister and the deputy prime minister. I am convinced that CAS will not be implemented in Delhi now," he told reporters.

The BJP unit, particularly Khurana, is wary that "initial problems" in CAS implementation could cause a backlash to the party in the polls.

Maintaining that he was not against CAS "principally", he said, " sometimes even if good things are done, there are problems initially."

"Let it be implemented in other metros first and its drawbacks asssessed, then only should it be implemented in Delhi," Khurana said but refused to spell out for how long the move should be deferred.