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Open to post-polls coalition

Congress says its flexibility about leadership makes it a better option for regional allies; the party refutes projected surge of BJP

TNN, New Delhi
With 196 seats still to poll, Congress is far from conceding the election, but is keenly considering post-poll "stop Modi" scenarios where the party will not make its leadership of a coalition a non-negotiable condition.
Congress sees its "complete flexibility" about either propping up or participating in a non-NDA formation as a major strength in attracting allies as against BJP's commitment to project Narendra Modi as PM.
Congress's calculations, however, rest on a big if - that the perceived Modi surge fails to take NDA close to the halfway mark of 272 Lok Sabha seats and Modi and his allies are left stranded at the 220-230 mark.
In the latest large opinion poll, taken in the first week of April, the BJP and its allies were forecast to win a narrow majority in the 543-seat lower house of parliament, compared with previous surveys predicting that they would fall short.
But in the ruling party's assessment, a drastic decline of regional parties and Congress needed for BJP and its allies to reach close to majority is not supported by ground realities.
A sub-par NDA performance could mean, Congress strategists reckon, that the ruling party remains in the 100-120 seat range that gives it a range of strategic options to bring together a non-BJP coalition.
"If Congress gets around 140 seats, it can consider heading a coalition as was the case in 2004. But the party is flexible about leadership, making it a better option for regional allies than Modi," said party sources.
Responding to queries on his candidacy for PM, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has said he is not fixated on holding office, a position that does not rule him out for the top job, but allows him to pick his spot in the batting order.
Interestingly, ahead of the first phase of polling on April 6, defence minister A K Antony had suggested that the Left should introspect its ideologies and consider being part of a UPA-III to keep BJP out of office.
"After the elections, several parties which are not ready to join hands with Congress will have to rethink to avoid the danger of bringing BJP to power," Antony had said, though he later said Congress will not support a third front. But tactical denials apart, the idea of a "secular front" to keep Modi at bay has hardly died out and is, in fact, being seen as the best option to preventan NDA government.
Congress's pitch to regional bosses would be that they would get much more elbow room in a government facilitated by the party than one run by Modi who is unlikely to allow allies a free hand that they might seek.
Arguing that not formally projecting Rahul as PM was a wise move, Congress strategists feel BJP will not find it so expedient to hunt for a more "compatible" face having played up Modi's OBC credentials.
Though not all non-NDA parties can pull along as Samajwadi Party and BSP or DMK and AI ADM K are mutually incompatible, but a cluster of 200-odd non-NDA, non-UPA MPs is large enough to stitch together a coalition, feel Congress leaders.
The issue at hand, as far as Congress is concerned, is whether BJP can actually achieve the tallies that some opinion polls have indicated and the party feels the targets are not easily gettable.
In Congress's assessment, BJP crossing the 220 seat mark on its own and the NDA getting to 250 requires a serious meltdown of regional parties like SP, BSP, AIADMK, BJD, NCP and others that does not seem likely.