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Sonia and Advani in desperate ally hunt

The scent of power has Congress president Sonia Gandhi scrambling to catch up with arch rival L.K. Advani's stepped-up search for new allies.

May 15, 2009 - PRLog -- The scent of power has Congress president Sonia Gandhi scrambling to catch up with arch rival L.K. Advani's stepped-up search for new allies.

With the exit polls giving a slender edge to the Congress, the party's old guard led by Sonia is ready for some hard-nosed bargaining with other parties.

The Congress had declared before the elections that it would not have a national alliance with any party.

But, it was suddenly reaching out to prospective partners, especially those in the Third Front.

Those moves came even as the party desperately attempted to keep its existing partners in good humour. Sonia herself spoke over the phone to RJD chief Lalu Prasad and LJP's Ram Vilas Paswan.

Amidst growing speculation over the NCP's reluctance to back a Congress- led government, Sonia is believed to have also called up Sharad Pawar on Wednesday. "She has been calling up all allies who have expressed their support for the formation of a UPA government," said a Congress spokesperson.

This is seemingly a late scramble when compared to the BJP. While the Congress's efforts are understood to have started in earnest four days ago, the BJP had put its points men in place months ahead of the polls to track each prospective ally. The NDA not only has its shape and form intact but has been negotiating for long with the same allies that the Congress has started to woo - AIADMK's J. Jayalalithaa, BJD's Naveen Patnaik and TDP's Chandrababu Naidu.

Leaving no stone unturned in the bid to have Advani as the next prime minister, the party moved systematically to put in place a well thought out strategy. The BJP had deputed TVR Shenoy and Cho Ramaswamy to build bridges with the AIADMK while Gujarat chief minister used his goodwill with Jayalalithaa to try to forge a possible pre- poll alliance.

"This alliance did not work out because Jayalalithaa felt that she had a better chance of getting more seats by aligning with the Left. The Left has a higher presence in Tamil Nadu than we do. But we have kept up a dialogue with her," said a BJP strategist.

Modi is generally regarded as Advani's emissary to Jayalalithaa.

"In deference to Jayalalithaa's wishes, there will be no dialogue with the AIADMK till May 16," said BJP's chief spokesperson .

BJP general secretary has a line open to UP chief minister Mayawati's close confidant and BSP strategist S. C. Mishra.

Advani's aide Sudheendra Kulkarni has also maintained an "ideological discourse" with her. Meanwhile, the party has not lost hopes of opening a channel with Patnaik, even though the latter recently dumped them.

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Despite its advance planning, the BJP was not prepared for the fresh energy and vigour with which the Congress started looking for post- poll partners. The prospect of gaining an edge over the saffron alliance, as Wednesday's exist polls had credited the Congress with, had clearly charged up Sonia. There was a late night meeting on Wednesday of her political secretary Ahmad Patel with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister A.K. Antony. Sonia then did what Advani had done months back - appoint emissaries to track each ally. Former minister and film producer Desari Narayana Rao was deputed to negotiate with actor and Praja Rajyam Party leader Chiranjeevi in Andhra Pradesh.

Jaipal Reddy was nominated to talk to K. Chandrasekhara Rao of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi.

The Congress believes it can still convince him to return to the fold, even though Rao attended the NDA rally on May 10. Key Congress strategists Kamal Nath and Ghulam Nabi Azad were asked to deal with Jayalalithaa. Kamal Nath was reportedly negotiating with Naveen Patnaik while Orissa MP and minister K.P. Singh Deo was also put on Patnaik's chase.

Ahmad Patel has kept the back channels open with BSP's Mishra.

And Sonia met H.D. Kumaraswamy on Tuesday, which the Karnataka leader had unsuccessfully tried to keep a secret.

Adding a new spin to the chase for allies, a senior JD( U) leader claimed the issue of supporting a Congress was " still open". Anxious to string together an alliance, the Congress is even trying to mend fences with former friends. AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh did a balancing act by trying to patch up with Amar Singh of the Samajwadi Party (SP) on Thursday, a day after speaking up in favour of Mayawati. The Congress leader had criticised the SP for saying it would support any party that dismisses Mayawati's UP government.

"He ( Digvijay Singh) had called up in the afternoon to apologise. He said if he has said something wrong due to the ongoing elections, he was sorry for that. He is like an elder brother to me. I have forgiven him," said the SP leader.

But hours later, Amar Singh also attended the wedding of BJP president 's political secretary Sudhanshu Trivedi.

Worrying as much about allies, it is perhaps this frenetic exercise by the Congress that has alerted the BJP to guard its own home. On Thursday, Advani summoned Narendra Modi for a closed- door strategy session at his Prithviraj Road residence. The meeting was also attended by Rajnath Singh.

After it ended, Singh rushed to the RSS headquarters to brief the saffron apparatchiks about the latest developments in the BJP. The BJP tried to water down the Congress's enthusiasm by poking fun at its alliance- making efforts.

"Allies have to come in disguised on dark nights to the Congress," said Ravi Shankar Prasad.

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