World | India
Hunt for numbers gets under way
With barely four days left for judgment day, both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress yesterday stepped up their hunt for post-poll allies to shore up the numbers in what is widely expected to be a hung parliament.
- IANS
- Published: 22:52 May 12, 2009
New Delhi: With barely four days left for judgment day, both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress yesterday stepped up their hunt for post-poll allies to shore up the numbers in what is widely expected to be a hung parliament.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh rang up Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, to discuss Kosi flood relief and "other issues", and BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu flew to Hyderabad to woo Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief Chandrababu Naidu.
The prime minister's call to Nitish Kumar took many by surprise as it came only a day after Manmohan Singh had cast doubts about secular credentials of the Bihar leader who shared the stage with NDA leaders, including Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, at a show of strength rally in Ludhiana on Sunday.
The Communists, who are pushing for a non-Congress, non-BJP Third Front government, kept alive the suspense about which way they will go. Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Sitaram Yechury clarified that the party politburo will decide on the issue only after the results are declared May 16.
The TDP leader also plugged for a Third Front government. Predicting that the Congress and the BJP would fail to get a majority, Naidu claimed that the wind was blowing in favour of regional parties like AIADMK in Tamil Nadu and the BSP in Uttar Pradesh. Naidu said he would be meeting leaders of the two parties as well as the Left and other Third Front leaders after May 16.
Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh, however, sought to muddy the picture as he accused the Congress of being "in touch" with Mayawati, seen as a possible prime ministerial candidate of the Third Front, through Governor T. V. Rajeshwar. The Congress promptly rejected the charge.
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