Now, onus on Cong to consult allies

As RJD sources say, the onus will now be on the Congress to consult allies and build a consensus on the new candidate. ‘‘Laloo has already dismissed the name of Congress leader Manmohan Singh becoming the Prime Minister, saying it is hypothetical. It is now a reverse situation — the Congress will have to start the process of consultations as soon as possible,’’ they add.

Laloo Yadav has already met his partners Lok Janshakti Party leader Ram Vilas Paswan, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, even former Prime Minister V.P. Singh, to discuss how to evolve the consultations process.

Meanwhile, yet another firm Sonia ally, DMK’s K. Karunanidhi has stuck to his stand of not joining the secular coalition at the Centre ‘‘for the present’’. The DMK today said it would take a decision after observing how the new government shapes up. ‘‘There are several reasons but I cannot disclose them now,’’ Karunanidhi told reporters in the Capital.

DMK sources say the reasons are plenty. One, the smaller parties in the rainbow coalition, like the MDMK, have declined to join the government and the DMK wants to put up a united front before it pledges support; two, since it is not in power in the state, unlike at the time of its alliance with the NDA, there are no benefits to reap by joining the Centre now; three, with state elections two years ahead, the DMK does not want to give rival J. Jayalalithaa a chance to use the Centre’s failures to beat them.

Karunanidhi, however, was not too surprised by Sonia’s decision to opt out. Says a DMK source, ‘‘Sonia indicated yesterday itself she was considering opting out and she wanted her allies’ opinion on her decision. It soon became clear that Sonia had made her decision soon after results were out. But she did not announce it until she had got letters of support from all the parties, thus she effectively put an end to the eruption of a third or fourth front or, bitter squabbling within her own party over the choice of an alternative leader.’’

The Samajwadi Party, a post-poll ally, which crashed into the scene only after the process of government formation had begun, says it is unaffected as it is an ally of the Left and not the Congress. Party general secretary Amar Singh says: ‘‘The Congress had not accepted us as its ally, and our letter to the President says we support the coalition, not Sonia, on ‘behalf of the Left’. So, we do not even have to change the letter when the new candidate is proposed to the President.’’

SP sources are, however, happy that without Sonia, the pre-alliance contract falls through, and all are equal partners now. ‘‘It was a strange cohabitation anyway,’’ says a party source. ‘‘None of the parties were ready to participate in government — the DMK, NCP, Left. The SP was not going to participate in the government too.’’

Paswan, who was one of the first to endorse Sonia as PM, said: ‘‘The constituents of the coalition will have to consider an alternative candidate for Prime Ministership if the Congress was not able to persuade her to accept it. We will have to sit together to sort out the issue.’’