NEW DELHI, April 26: On retrospect, the bid to install Sonia Gandhi as prime minister was doomed right on April 17, after the fall of the Vajpayee Government in the Lok Sabha. Sonia's strategists lost 48 crucial hours while going through the motions of seeking authorisation for Sonia to speak on behalf of the Congress before the President.By the time Sonia despatched Oscar Fernandes and P J Kurien to Rashtrapati Bhawan on Monday with copies of the resolutions authorising her to take the initiative in forming an alternative government, the BJP had been alerted and had already launched an effective counter-offensive.This centred on hammering the point home that they would oppose any move to invite Sonia without letters of support from the 270 MPs who may have voted against Vajpayee but may not support Sonia for the post of PM.Sonia's strategists had managed to ensure that the resolution authorising her was passed within 30 minutes at the CWC meeting on April 17 but failed to seek a similar authorisation from the parliamentary party the same day.And in the absence of an authorisation from the CPP, the President was not in a position to ask Sonia either to explore the possibility of forming a Government or straightway hand over the letter of appointment, as was done by his predecessor, Shankar Dayal Sharma, in 1996.In October 1984, Giani Zail Singh had administered the oath of office to Rajiv Gandhi though neither the CPP, nor the CWC had authorised him to stake claim. The authorisations were sought later.Narayanan may not be a copybook President but he cannot recognise Sonia as CPP chairperson without an authorisation. He would have been bound to invite Leader of the Opposition Sharad Pawar, who is leader of the second largest party in the Lok Sabha. Why the President did not act for two days after the Vajpayee Government's fall is a mystery.Sonia's strategists have now realised their folly in not holding a meeting of the CWC and CPP in quick succession on April 17 and Sonia not calling on the President the same night to stake claim as leader of the second largest party.Since the BJP was in a state of shock after losing the confidence motion by one vote and it was the Congress which had got the Vajpayee Government defeated, it could have impressed upon the President to give Sonia a chance to become prime minister and prove majority later.According to sources, one of strategists who played a key role in the operation to install Sonia was working until this morning to persuade Mulayam Singh Yadav to support the Congress through the Left parties. He had been a member of the United Front's coordination committee in 1996.Finally when the CWC met yesterday afternoon at Sonia's residence, he neither spoke a word, nor brought out any prepared resolution from his pocket as had been the practice and witnessed by other members helplessly. Now, the members were speaking against lending support to anybody even at the cost of causing mid-term polls.This was at variance with the April 17 CPP resolution which had said that Sonia should take steps to form a government and avoid mid-term polls. The polls could have been avoided by lending outside support to Jyoti Basu which was not acceptable to the CWC. Top
