President to meet Sonia today

NEW DELHI, April 20: Ending one stage of the political uncertainty gripping the nation, Rashtrapati Bhavan tonight announced that Preside...

NEW DELHI, April 20: Ending one stage of the political uncertainty gripping the nation, Rashtrapati Bhavan tonight announced that President K R Narayanan would meet Congress chief Sonia Gandhi tomorrow as part of his 8220;process of consultations8221; towards having a 8220;viable alternative8221; over the next couple of days.

According to the communique, the President has discussed the situation with experts and received suggestions in the form of letters from different political parties and groups, including the BJP and its allies. 8220;The President will meet leaders of concerned parties, groups, combinations, as well as individuals over the next couple of days in order to secure a viable alternative consistent with established Constitutional practice and norms of Parliamentary democracy,8221; the communique said.

For the Congress, the call from the President comes even as it8217;s trying to obtain letters of support for Sonia as Prime Minister of a minority government. Although the leadership question continues to vex someof the supporting parties, Congress leaders tapped the willing ones with a draft letter to be sent to the President establishing Sonia8217;s claim to head an alternative government.

Congress sources said the formulation, discussed with supporting parties and individual MPs, is something along the lines of an agreement to extend outside support to a Congress Government 8220;under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi.8221; The President is expected to ask for letters of support before he formally invites her to lead the next government.

Congress leaders refused to divulge how many such letters they have succeeded in obtaining so far but judging by the tension in party circles, all roadblocks have not been cleared yet.

The manner in which Sonia swung into action today left no one in any doubt that she was preparing to assume charge. She met a galaxy of leaders I K Gujral, Jyoti Basu, Deve Gowda and Laloo Yadav 8212; as well as dissidents from the BJP camp seeking a share of the power pie like Kalpnath Rai of the SamataParty, Vijay Rama Raju of the TDP and Buta Singh who wants to rejoin the party.

However, the numbers are still uncertain. The Forward Bloc and RSP are believed to have told Congress leaders that their party constitutions explicitly forbid them from having anything to do with the Congress. They have indicated that while they may vote in favour of the party in the Lok Sabha, they cannot send the required support letters.

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This leaves the Congress seven MPs short of the 270 benchmark set by the BJP which will redouble its claim by calling on the President tomorrow with letters of support from its allies.

Faced with a shortfall in the continuing numbers game, the Congress will have to split some of the BJP8217;s allies to get the go-ahead for government formation. The party is hoping that the process of splintering has started with the TDP whose MP, Vijay Rama Raju, today openly declared support to the Congress. Intermediaries and Congress leaders were hard at work today with Samata, Biju Janata Dal and TrinamulCongress MPs and will continue their negotiations tomorrow.

The hitch is that these breakaway MPs want Cabinet berths and also want to preserve their identities as separate parties which uspets the Congress plan to lead a minority government. The offer from the Congress is: Merge and then take ministerial posts.