Mofaz had been running for leadership of the right-wing party which has dominated Israeli politics for the last three decades.

But with opinion polls giving him no chance of succeeding the prime minister at the helm of Likud, Mofaz announced he was rejoining his political mentor after being reportedly offered the chance to retain his post if Sharon is re-elected.

"Events of the last few weeks have brought me to the painful conclusion that the Likud is drifting away from me and turning to the extreme right. This is not my way," Mofaz told a press conference in Tel Aviv.

Mofaz, who is the seventh member of the cabinet to have now joined the prime minister in jumping ship in less than three weeks, said Likud had failed to understand that Israel was at an important juncture in its history.

"I have struggled within myself but I have come to the decision that I can only exert influence on the ground by joining Kadima," he added.

Army radio reported that Sharon had managed to entice Mofaz by offering to retain him in his post after a general election on March 28 which polls say will be won by Kadima and see a meltdown for Likud.

Mofaz had been seen as one of Sharon's top allies, overseeing the premier's pullout of Israeli troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip earlier this year.

But he had initially decided to stay put in Likud and run in a leadership contest against Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the favourite to win the December 19 contest.

Shalom, who is lying second in polls of Likud members behind Netanyahu, attributed Mofaz's decision to his realisation that he had no chance of being elected leader.

"Do not let the extremists take over the Likud completely," he told a press conference.

"If he (Mofaz) had waited one week longer, he would have seen an invigorated Likud under my leadership."

Shalom recognised that the decision would further exacerbate the crisis within the heart of Likud.

"Likud is in a real crisis which we cannot just sweep under the carpet. The question is who can pull Likud out of this crisis."

The hardline Netanyahu was quoted as describing Kadima as a party "flooded with opportunists (which) will fall apart."

Sharon decided to split from Likud and form Kadima late last month, fed up by confrontations with members of his party who refused to forgive him for withdrawing from the territory occupied by Israel since 1967.

Finance Minister Ehud Olmert and Justice Minister Tzippi Livni were among the other high-profile Likud defectors while the party's acting chairman, Tzahi Hanegbi, switched last week. The centre-left Labour party's former leader, Shimon Peres, has also endorsed Sharon.

Until Sharon split and formed Kadima on November 21, Likud could boast 40 out of the 120 members of the Knesset.

But a poll published in Friday's Yediot Aharonot daily predicted its number of seats could drop to just 13 after the country goes to the polls on March 28.

Parliamentary speaker and Likud stalwart Reuven Rivlin said it was important that the party remained steadfast.

"If we don't abandon our path in these difficult days, we will overcome," he said.

Likud was founded in 1973 with the merger of four fringe right-wing parties with a firm commitment to "Eretz Israel", the Biblical term for land which not only includes the current state but also the West Bank and Gaza.

Its first leader, Menachem Begin, became prime minister in 1977, a position held by a Likudnik for all but seven of the next 28 years until Sharon's dramatic bolt.

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