KIEV, May 18 – Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s group, after a four-month delay, on Friday backed legislation increasing the powers of President Viktor Yushchenko, but relations between the two continued to remain tense.

The Tymoshenko group voted to support the legislation after Yushchenko’s Our Ukraine-People’s Self-defense agreed to back a set of anti-inflation measures drafted by the government.

Although the approval of the legislation, known as the Law on the Cabinet of Ministers, is a tactical victory for the president, it doesn’t remove long-term differences between Yushchenko and Tymoshenko.

The two remain at loggerheads over constitutional amendments, a potentially much bigger issue. Tymoshenko pledged to have her amendments, which would either reduce or completely eliminate the powers of the president, approved before the end of the year.

Yushchenko signed the legislation on Saturday, putting it into effect.

But as a further sign that the relations remained tense, Tymoshenko’s supporters have been flocking to downtown Kiev over the past days setting up their tents, indicating preparation for long-term street protests.

“We see the elements of the total mobilization by one political group - I will say directly this is the Tymoshenko group – that in fact has been preparing for the new Maidan,” Viktor Baloha, the chief of staff at the Yushchenko office, said in an interview with Studio 1+1 aired Sunday night.

Baloha said the protests may be aimed at new general election to Parliament following the controversial amendments to the constitution.

“When we talk about the mobilization, this shows that this political group wants to initiate a new election to Parliament as soon as this year,” Baloha said.

The Tymoshenko group on Sunday refused to comment on the possible street protests.

But the Tymoshenko Cabinet is due to hold an emergency meeting on Monday without a clear agenda, according to the government’s website. Tymoshenko is due to hold a press conference after the meeting.

The relations between Yushchenko and Tymoshenko may quickly escalate on Tuesday, when the government plans to hold an auction to sell Odessa Portside Plant, a lucrative mineral fertilizer producer and ammonia exporter.

Yushchenko banned the sell-off, citing security concerns, but Tymoshenko, who desperately needs cash for her government’s populist depositor bailout campaign, pledged to go ahead with the sell-off.

The government plans to the sell-off can generate up to $1 billion in proceeds.

Meanwhile, Tymoshenko on Sunday sought to downplay the differences with Yushchenko, and said her support for the legislation was aimed at strengthening the pro-Western coalition.

"At the president's request, our political team voted for a new law on the cabinet, reducing the government's powers ... and increasing those of the president," Tymoshenko told a press conference.

"We supported (the legislation) for the sake of the unity of the democratic coalition." (tl/ez)