Hung House? Cong may force Prez rule
Parliament session may be aborted before UP results

The Government is seriously considering the option of imposing President's rule in Uttar Pradesh in case of a fractured verdict by putting the new State Assembly under suspended animation immediately after its constitution.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh discussed the post-poll scenario in UP and its implications for national politics with members of the Congress Core Committee on Saturday night, sources said.

One of the leaders is also reported to have mooted the idea of cutting short the Budget session of Parliament before the announcement of UP election results.

"This will enable the Government and the political parties to focus attention on UP, where the political situation is likely to be volatile if the exit polls and intelligence reports are any indication," said a senior Cabinet Minister.

He pointed out that the most important Government business, including the passage of the Finance Bill, would be completed by May 8 when the seventh and last phase of polling in UP is held.

Recent statements by Union Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal - who hails from UP - as well as other UPA Ministers like Lalu Prasad Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan have also hinted at the strong possibility of President's rule in UP.

"Such a move will be fully in order if no party is in a position to form the Government after the election. This was done by the NDA Government after UP Assembly poll in 2002 and the UPA Government after Bihar Assembly election in 2005," an AICC functionary pointed out.

Despite BSP supremo Mayawati's claim that her party would be in a position to form Government on its own, all exit polls and most political observers predict a three-way split in the votes leading to a hung House.

The BJP has already announced that it would support neither SP nor Mayawati. There is no possibility of the BSP and the SP burying hatchets after the heated campaigning in which their leaders openly abused and threatened each other.

The Congress strategists feel that even if the BSP emerges as the single largest party but falls short of majority, the party should not show undue hurry or zeal in supporting Mayawati's Government.

"The Congress would have the key to Government-formation and it would ensure that any party other than the BJP and Samajwadi Party forms the next Government. But forging a coalition for the purpose of Government formation is bound to take some time," Jaiswal has said during his election meetings of late.

Senior Congress leaders admit that the party has still to evolve a cohesive policy toward the BSP. This is clearly reflected in the speeches of Rahul Gandhi in his roadshows when he tried to paint the BJP, the SP and the BSP with the same brush as proponents of "divisive politics".

Should the BSP cross the 150-mark in the new Assembly and the Congress also end up with 40-plus seats, the possibility of extending outside support to Mayawati could be considered, hinted a senior Congress leader involved in the UP campaign.

Congress party's UP election spokesperson Devendra Dwivedi also gave a subtle hint of this recently when he told mediapersons that while the BSP, too, had been practising vote-bank politics by appealing to caste-based exclusivist loyalties, it had of late begun talking of inclusive politics.