NDA, Cong hunt for allies

MANDATE 2004/ Last phase of elections today

With the remaining 182 constituencies across 16 states and Union territories going to polls tomorrow, parties and political leaders are preparing for some hard bargaining that could continue either till the end of the week or till a new government is formed, whichever comes sooner.

On Saturday night, Congress President Sonia Gandhi summoned the general secretaries in charge of the various states to get a first-hand assessment of the party's position in them.

The general secretaries gave in writing their estimates of the party's tally, and more significantly, the number of Independents and third parties winning from their states.

At the meeting, Birender Singh, party general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh, claimed the Congress would win 21 seats in the state. An assessment that was pooh-poohed by Sonia.

She also contested the assessment of RK Dhawan, party general secretary in charge of Bihar, that the Congress would win at least three seats and that the fourth was a toss-up.

"Are you aware of the infighting in the constituency?" she asked, leaving no one in any doubt that she was completely in command of the party's election machinery and aware of its position all over India.

Although no one in the Congress is admitting any official contact with other parties for possible alliances, their greatest fear is that the DMK might go over to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) with a large chunk of seats.

The party, till the end of last week, had been maintaining "either Sonia Gandhi is Prime Minister or the Congress sits in the Opposition benches", but it seems to be taking a more flexible approach now.

The BJP is carrying out a similar exercise. Party General Secretary Arun Jaitely had harsh words for the opportunism of the Congress in tying up with the DMK, despite the party's alleged involvement in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination. However, Jaitley refused to made any value judgments on the DMK.

According to the BJP's internal assessment, the game is already over for the 39 seats in Tamil Nadu, where faulty ticket distribution and "lack of understanding of the Tamil mind" led to a switching of alliance partners midway. The most optimistic projection of seats from the state is between 8 and 15.

"If the NDA gets less than 250 seats, they might as well sit in the Opposition benches. However, if the psychological barrier is crossed then talks are on with a gamut of smaller parties," said a senior BJP leader on post-poll alliances.