Election Countdown/18 Days to go: Sinn Féin, the SDLP and the Ulster Unionists have all turned their election fire on the anti-agreement stance of the Democratic Unionists.
At separate press events, the leaders of all three accused the Rev Ian Paisley's party of telling lies and of holding out a false prospect of renegotiation of the agreement.
The DUP hit back last night, claiming that the Ulster Unionists had "conned the electorate" since Good Friday 1998 and making a series of allegations against their rivals should the Stormont institutions be reinstated.
The UUP had launched a strong attack yesterday morning on their unionist rivals, accusing them of "peddling lies" and "scaremongering".
Mr David Trimble also indicated that he had no problem with UUP voters giving preference votes to the SDLP.
At a press conference at UUP headquarters in Belfast, Mr Trimble said that the DUP election literature "makes any number of propositions, every one of them wrong".
Party candidate Mr David McClarty claimed that the DUP was "scaremongering" when it suggested that Sinn Féin's Gerry Kelly could be in charge of policing in the North during the next Assembly. "The DUP supports the devolution of policing," he said.
Another candidate, Mr David McNarry, accused the DUP of "a lie" in its claim that the Royal Irish Regiment would be disbanded, giving terrorists free reign in parts of Northern Ireland.
He also claimed that the DUP's current campaign was merely alienating voters. "Well, I think actually the DUP style of campaigning is counter-productive, just as their own personal behaviour puts off so many people. But that's for them."
At an SDLP press conference, Mr Mark Durkan said that there would be no renegotiation of the Belfast Agreement involving his party.
Denouncing the DUP as "No men" who opposed everything, Mr Durkan said that the Assembly election should not be seen as two contests running in parallel involving the SDLP and Sinn Féin on one side and unionist parties on the other.
"The real stakes is the race between those who will make the agreement work and those who seek to destroy it," he said.
He accused the DUP of wanting to "exploit confusion and apathy", of trying to "sell the confidence trick that things will work out under a DUP ascendancy, of aiming to block the formation of a new executive and of trying to kill the agreement".
Mr Adams claimed there were signs that the DUP would be involved in talks with Sinn Féin and other pro-agreement parties after the election. But the added: "I want to nail the lie that a new agreement is going to come from that. There isn't going to be any renegotiation of the Good Friday agreement, and I welcome the fact that the position of the SDLP is the same as ours."
He said that the DUP was using the "bluster of renegotiation" as cover for coming into discussions. "Their public and private positions are different," he said.
Speaking at a south Belfast internet café, where the party's election website was being publicised, Mr Adams appealed to Dr Paisley to "make it clear that he will be involved with everyone else in trying to sort out what needs to be sorted out after the elections".
"That's the more honest way to go forward, instead of telling lies and being engaged in a con-trick with the unionist section of the electorate."
The DUP responded last night with Dr Paisley saying of the Ulster Unionists: "They are again attempting to hide from the consequences of their actions, trying to deny what is clearly the case. Much as they may try to distort the record, the facts speak for themselves."
He went on to allege that restoration of the Belfast Agreement could lead to Sinn Féin's Mr Gerry Kelly being policing and justice minister, to the "destruction" of the Royal Irish Regiment, leaving "Ulster defenceless", and to "more all-Ireland government".