TOKYO (AP) -- Japan's main opposition planned to hold an extraordinary meeting Monday to discuss the party president's offer to step down after his colleagues rejected a proposed alliance with the troubled ruling bloc.

Democratic Party President Ichiro Ozawa's planned resignation comes amid a major standoff between the government and opposition. Days earlier, his party blocked government efforts to extend a naval mission in support of U.S.-led operations in Afghanistan.

Ozawa said he was resigning to take responsibility for causing tumult within the party over Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's power-sharing proposal Friday. He was expected to retain his parliamentary seat.

"I caused political confusion over Prime Minister Fukuda's coalition proposal," Ozawa told a news conference. "I have therefore decided to resign from my post as president."

DPJ Secretary-General Yukio Hatoyama told reporters he had not accepted Ozawa's resignation and that he hoped to persuade him to reconsider. Hatoyama said he would call an emergency executive meeting on Monday.

Ozawa and the DPJ executive committee discussed the possible alliance on Friday -- a proposal intended to break a deadlock in the Diet -- but the committee voted to reject it. Some DPJ lawmakers later criticized Ozawa, saying the party should defeat the ruling Liberal Democratic Party at the ballot and that an alliance was out of the question.

"I took the committee's decision as a vote of no confidence," Ozawa said.

He maintained that an alliance "would have been a shortcut to power."

The DPJ is the biggest party in the Diet's upper chamber following electoral gains in July, while the LDP controls the lower house.

As a result, parliament has not approved a single law since it resumed in September, including the bill to extend the Indian Ocean naval mission that refueled ships for the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan.

A power broker known for his back-room dealing, Ozawa was once a ruling party leader but broke away in 1993 even though staying on would likely have assured him of becoming prime minister.

He played an instrumental role in ousting the LDP in August that year for the first time since 1955. But his coalition government was short-lived, crushing hopes for an introduction of a real two-party system.

In 2003, Ozawa's Liberal Party merged with the Democrats to form a counterweight against the LDP. The merger helped the party become a major opposition force.

Despite some electoral gains, however, the DPJ has had trouble establishing itself. Its policies are often hardly different from the ruling party's, and it has struggled to pull together its diverse members -- pacifists, hawks, inexperienced lawmakers and former LDP heavyweights.

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