Here, on the one hand, is a Prime Minister so much the yes-man that he gives rubber-stamps an inferiority complex. Inder Kumar Gujral is willing to stomach any insult -- even barracking on the floor of the House from his own party president -- if he can stick to his post.

And there, on the other, is a party with an appetite that would put Kumbhakarna to shame. The prince of Lanka, as we know, had to sate his hunger the moment he awoke. Having hibernated since it offered ``support from outside'' 14 months ago, the Congress drools for a richer fare than Calcutta's rasogollas. It slavers for Delhi's South Block. How does Kesri propose to take it there?

Perhaps with an embrace? Sitaram Kesri got rid of H. D. Deve Gowda by kicking him out. But the mulish manner in which it was done repelled most Indians. So now he is preparing to bring Gujral down with a bear-hug.

Politics, as Bismarck famously remarked, is the art of the possible. It is mathematically impossible for the Congress to form an administration of its own. (If nothing else, Kesri's Easter adventure proved he couldn't lure 120 MPs overnight.) But what if it modestly demands to join the government, adding 140-odd MPs to the United Front's numbers?

You may think that such a request would be met with a firm refusal from the United Front. You would be wrong. Tamil Maanila Congress's Moopanar, for one, has already gone on record asking for just that.

It actually makes perfect scene. It means that the government would rest on an absolute majority in both Houses, saving it from embarrassments such as the hasty withdrawal of the insurance Bill. And let's be honest -- with three of Laloo Yadav's acolytes serving with Gujral at his insistence, nobody can pretend that it is a `United Front' ministry any longer!Gujral, of course, is no problem.

He has, as noted, opened the doors for the participation of non-United Front ministers. What's more, the Congress president has already certified that Gujral is the proud possessor of a ``Congressiya'' mind. Finally, everybody in Delhi knows that the Prime Minister is tired of being constantly humiliated by his own party and the left.

Remember, however, that our dear Prime Minister isn't a member of the Lok Sabha. When push comes to shove, he isn't entitled to cast a vote even to save his own regime. That power rests with directly elected MPs of the DMK, the Telugu Desam, and the Asom Gana Parishad among others.

(And, lest we forget, those `national' parties -- the Janata Dal and the communists.) None of them -- regional or `national' -- are fans of Sitaram Kesri or his party.

To be fair, the Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal would probably serve quite happily with Congress colleagues. But I am afraid that neither Mulayam Singh nor Laloo Yadav counts for much in the numbers game. Between them, they can muster just about 35 MPs, which is not even enough for a quorum.

How about the rest of the motley crew? For the TMC, it would be a home-coming of sorts. But the other regional parties have seen how the Congress has been weakened by offering support in Delhi to its foes in the States. Why should they commit the same error and reap the same bitter fruits?

Dreams of Delhi may consume the Congress. But what is the point if it means sacrificing Chennai and Hyderabad and Guwahati in the process? The nature of regional parties -- in fact, their very names -- ultimately cut out any ambitions of a pan-Indian role. They may be chary of playing Kesri's game if it means unrest at the grassroots level.

And then, of course, there is the Left Front. Even if some of the regional groups, or perhaps all of them, fall into Kesri's embrace, I doubt if the Communists will follow suit. They are prepared to take a relatively long-term view. This translates into automatically shutting the door on any accommodation with the Congress.

Yet assume that the non-Left Front elements in the United Front agree to give the Congress its pound of flesh. In the event, I cannot see Indrajit Gupta sharing the Treasury bench with Pranab Mukherje, nor Chaturanan Mishra at the same table as Tariq Anwar.

The CPI ministers would resign. It is possible that the Left Front would leave, en masse, the United Front itself. If so, the major obstacle to Congress participation in the government would have suddenly crumbled.

Once deprived of the Left Front's support, Deve Gowda and his fellow hard-liners would find it difficult to stem the tide. In the guise of saving India from ``communalism'', various parties might well decide to jump on the Congress ship.

So all the barriers to a Congress return to South Block would have fallen. Or would they? On paper, a power-sharing arrangement makes sense. But the troubles would start with the hard work of actually allocating ministries.

Under the principle of proportional representation, the Congress would be entitled to at least half the offices. And as the largest party in the proposed coalition, they would have to be major portfolios.

Just imagine, say, Ram Vilas Paswan's response if he were told that the price for battling ``communalism'' was to surrender the Ministry of Railways. Will Jalappa leave the Ministry of Textiles for the dubious privileges of a back-bencher? And who shall rule in the all-important Personnel Ministry, which controls the CBI?

And how could it be otherwise? Manmohan Singh has already said he would like a stint in the Ministry of Human Resources Development. But the bulk of his fellow Congress MPs won't be fobbed off with such `minor' offices. Narasimha Rao taught them to identify the real cash-cows of government. They may have kicked out Rao, but his lessons haven't been forgotten.

The Congress really doesn't have anything to lose by pushing the smaller parties to the wall. Assume that they find a semblance of a backbone between them, and opt for a general election instead of humiliation. Everyone accepts that the BJP and its allies will gain handsomely. But will the Congress be any worse off than it is today?

Have the DMK, the Telugu Desam, the Asom Gana Parishad and the rest any hope of repeating their performance of 1996? The DMK won every seat it contested; it can't improve on perfection. And a combination of natural and man-made disasters have left the Telugu Desam and the AGP more chary of facing their voters just now.

All said, the Congress is better placed than most think. At best, it can contest polls from Delhi at a time of its choice. And, at worst, how much worse can it do than in 1996? The monsoon may be over, but there are still clouds over Parliament House.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.