Mid-term polls haunt MPs

The Congress is trying to douse the fear of the mid-term polls gripping members of Parliament who discussed it cutting across party lines in Parliament on Monday after the traditional Presidential address to a joint session of the two Houses in the first sitting of the calendar year.

Since Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister designate Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party is the latest leader floating the snap poll balloon, senior Congress leaders got in touch with his father and SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav to not only get an assurance that there is no need, but also seek his party's support in the budget session and in the upcoming President's election in July.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh were closeted with him only a day earlier for half an hour discussing the political scenario at the wedding of Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav's daughter.

The prime minister is also hosting a dinner at his 7 Race Course Road residence on Tuesday to all the United Progressive Alliance allies – the Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam, Trinamool Congress and Nationalist Congress Party -- to bury the speculation of the Lok Sabha's mid-term poll and decide the strategy for the smooth functioning of the budget session.