COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Sonia gets inside support, but the outside proves difficult

George Iype in New Delhi

Two days after the collapse of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, Congress president Sonia Gandhi seized the opportunity to authoritatively assert that she would form a new coalition soon.

But faced with insurmountable odds, Gandhi made little progress in arriving at a decision on one of the three options she is currently considering -- a minority Congress government with outside support from all allies, a coalition government consisting of like-minded parties, and a Third Front government supported by the Congress from outside.

But on day two, she succeeded in getting formal sanction from the Congress Parliamentary Party for her candidature as the next prime minister. The CPP, like the apex Congress Working Committee yesterday, also authorised her to chalk out the modalities of the next government.

Armed with the party's approval, she sent two of her trusted lieutenants -- P J Kurien and Oscar Fernandes -- to President K R Narayanan to submit the CWC-CPP resolutions so that the head of state can invite her to form the government.

Gandhi also met All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary J Jayalalitha for nearly 30 minutes to plan the next move.

Sources said that at their second official meeting at 10, Janpath, the two women discussed the shape the alternative coalition should take.

Jayalalitha, who is blamed for the current political crisis, played it safe. Congress officials said she left it to the "wisdom and discretion of Gandhi to form a viable coalition government".

Apparently Jayalalitha did not press for the AIADMK to be included in the new government. But at the same time, she made it known that the AIADMK is not averse to being part of the new regime.

But Gandhi's biggest worry is not pacifying Jayalalitha, but persuading the Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha (National Democratic Front) to stay out of the government and convincing the Forward Bloc and the Revolutionary Socialist Party to support a government headed by her.

The Samajwadi Party headed by Mulayam Singh Yadav, after an hour-long meeting today, decided that it would not be averse to joining a new government at the Centre as the party had waged a relentless battle against the BJP and was instrumental in ousting the Vajpayee government.

But to the relief of the Congress, the party added a rider by suggesting that if it helps government formation, the party would not mind opting out.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) politicians Harkishen Singh Surjeet and Jyoti Basu held a series of meetings with their dissenting brethren in the RSP and the Forward Bloc to try and convince them of the need to support a Congress government.

But both the parties remained adamant. Instead, they suggested that a Third Front government would be the best option.

Basu therefore met Jayalalitha in the evening to suggest the third alternative -- a Third Front coalition supported by the Congress from outside. Jayalalitha sprang a surprise by suggesting that Basu head the coalition.

While the suggestion has the tacit approval of the RLM, the Congress is unlikely to entertain the idea as most party MPs are eagerly nurturing hopes of getting back into power after a gap of three years.

At the end of a day of negotiations among the Congress, the RLM, the AIADMK and the Left parties, the Congress leadership also realised that the coalition jigsaw is not fitting right.

Congress politicians will hold more talks tomorrow with others like the Bahujan Samaj Party, Janata Dal and Tamil Maanila Congress as these parties are all set to create more problems.

The Dal has already announced that it will not support a government that includes RLM convenor Laloo Prasad Yadav or his party.

Mulayam Singh Yadav is so firmly opposed to BSP participation in the government that he has told Congress politicians Sharad Pawar and Arjun Singh that he will not support such a coalition.

TMC president G K Moopanar met Gandhi on Monday to bluntly tell her that he would find it difficult to support even a Congress-led government that includes the AIADMK.

Gandhi is now herself going to try and convince her ideologically divergent cat-and-dog alliance partners about the need to come together. For her, it is a do-or-die situation as President K R Narayanan is certain to demand proof of support from at least 270 MPs before allowing her to give shape to a new government.

RELATED REPORT:
Congress decides it's going to be them or elections

EARLIER REPORT:
I will form government, says Sonia

Tell us what you think of this report