Over the last few days, Congress and Left leaders have been in constant touch with the maverick West Bengal leader and finally got her nod to the Congress candidate P M Sayeed. This puts the ruling BJP-led coalition in deep trouble as with Mamata's eight MPs, the anti-BJP formation has reached the figure of 269 MPs on their side, precisely the same number as the BJP managed when it won the vote of confidence.

With both sides having 269 each, and Independent MP Buta Singh and Janata Party member Subramanian Swamy likely to go with the Congress, the BJP is facing the toughest battle yet in its fledgling career as ruling party. The Deputy Speaker's election is basically a dry run for the anti-BJP parties' attempts to form an alternative government.

Should the Congress pull off Sayeed's victory, as is verymuch likely, the BJP will lose a lot of face. Though it won't mean the fall of the Government, it will boost the morale of the Opposition which could then step up efforts to return to 7, Race Course Road.

Leader of Opposition Sharad Pawar and Left leaders have thus far played a crucial role in formalising the non-BJP alignment. Pawar, given the responsibility by party president Sonia Gandhi, has put in a great deal of effort on this issue. On Friday, he met Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee for BJP's support for Sayeed but the BJP said no.

However, Pawar's apparent success seems to have made the BJP further wary of losing the Deputy Speaker's election. So far, the BJP hasn't even been able to finalise its own candidate for the post with former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Shanta Kumar and former deputy speaker Mallikarjunaiah reported to be in the running. The Congress is even confident of acquiring the support of North-East MPs with the lone Bodo MP and the Arunachal Congress seen as possiblefriends. The feeling is that the support of these parties and MPs was for Vajpayee and not the Deputy Speaker.