Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori on Tuesday came under greater pressure to step down, with a scenario emerging for his resignation as early as the end of March.
The first jolt came from Ryutaro Hashimoto, state minister in charge of administrative reform, at a news conference in the morning.
"The wind is against us," Hashimoto said. "Now we have to think about what we should do to carry out the planned LDP party convention, in consideration of such (critical) opinions from the local branches."