Cong open to PM from among allies

Having given the green signal to party president Rahul Gandhi to stitch new alliances, the party is sending out feelers that though it would like Gandhi to be the next Prime Minister, the party chief would not mind bending backwards and supporting a candidate of one of the allies. The only rider is he/she should not be backed by the RSS, said electronic media sources.

In fact, these sources add that Gandhi would be willing to step aside for a woman candidate from a possible alliance partner. He "is comfortable seeing any prime minister other than an RSSbacked one," is the refrain.

There is already a buzz in the Opposition camp that a woman prime ministerial candidate may be projected in the next election and names of BSP leader Mayawati and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee are doing the rounds.

According to observers, the Congress party is sending out a clear message that it is not only amenable to sharing political space with regional satraps but also ready to make greater concessions is sharing of seats. At the moment, only JD(S) is inclined to play along. Both Mamata and Mayawati are yet to take the bait.

It is apparent that within the Congress a consensus has emerged that they should remain amenable to ‘state-specific’ alliances, but only in those states where the Congress is weak. For the party, it is also important that the momentum of the last few weeks, which have found the Modi government on the defensive, is not frittered away. Only an alternative narrative that will emerge from such a ‘mahagathbandhan’ can keep this momentum going.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other BJP leaders hope to play on the public perception that the Congress as an unreliable partner and harp on its track record of dumping allies.

"This coalition will collapse once they start talking about leadership," Rajnath Singh had said in Parliament during the no-trust debate, a reference to the prime ministerial ambitions of regional satraps such as Mamata Banerjee and Mayawati. It is this hump that the Congress is trying to overcome.