It also showed that convinced of a Congress-dominated future, the 113-year-old party plans to go it alone. A miffed Third Force, on the other hand, is trying to regroup in the face of the Congress resolve and showed its dissatisfaction with the Congress through Yadav's iftaar.

Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh's decision to host the party at the residence of his leader Mulayam Singh Yadav on the same day as the one being held by Gandhi was a last-minute decision.

Yadav did not invite the Congress president. Though invited, he did not attend Gandhi's party. For that matter, neither did the Left leaders (Communist Party of India generalsecretary A B Baradhan and CPI-Marxist politburo member Sitaram Yechury). They stayed at Yadav's residence till the end in a show of solidarity with the SP leader.

Indrajit Gupta was there at 24, Akbar Road, but that was not quite the same thing. So were Janata Dal chief Sharad Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan but neither is very welcome on the other side.

The two iftaar's were significant both for their style and the audience they targetted. That Gandhi's had "class" and Yadav's the "mass" touch, was obvious. At the All India Congress Committee headquarters, the silverware gleamed, the flowers were tastefully arranged, the cuisine was so good that Gandhi was repeatedly complimented for it, there was a reception committee at the entrance to welcome guests and a confident Gandhi went around many times to talk to the guests, including mediapersons.

The Capital's Muslim elite was present, from the Nawab of Pataudi-Sharmila Tagore duo to theatre personalities, judges, lawyers and academics. Congressleaders made the point that the occasion, different from the iftaar's hosted by previous Congress presidents, reflected the culture of the leader.

Besides invitees from the Capital, busloads of Muslims came to Singh's party from Sambal, Aligarh and Ghaziabad.

Although he decided to go in for the party to coincide with Gandhi's, Yadav was obviously unsure of the response he would get. The idea of getting Amar Singh to act as the host, while holding the party at Singh's residence, was to safeguard against a lukewarm response. But with a large turnout, it was a satisfied-looking Yadav who mingled with guests and posed for photographs.

The unhappiness of the "Third Force" with the Congress stems from the unwillingness of the Congress to bring down the Bharatiya Janata Party Government. The regional parties are happy to do business with a weak Congress. A resurgent Congress, on the other hand, may not need regional or Left parties or if it does, will not be dependent on them to a largeextent.

Apprehensive of losing the support of minorities to the Congress, better placed nationally to give a fight to the BJP, Yadav is fighting a do or die battle. He has already dubbed the Congress as enemy number one and last Saturday charged the party of colluding with the BJP on every issue, be it insurance, patents or women's reservation in legislatures.

The former United Front, which ran a government at the Centre from 1996-98, has disintegrated with Mulayam -- and Laloo Yadav -- forming their own Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha and Chandrababu Naidu supporting the BJP.

The RLM-Left is now in touch with Naidu in the hope of welcoming the prodigal son with the fattened calf. They are insisting that he break with the BJP but Naidu's problem is that withdrawing support may bring on a general election. He cannot afford a Lok Sabha election either before elections to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly or with it because that would shift the focus to national issues.

In some way, the stakes of the Left parties-- and of Mulayam -- to defeat the Congress in Andhra Pradesh are as high as those of Naidu, for victory in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka would set the stage for the Congress revival in the North.

Therefore, it is not inconceivable that Naidu may get the covert support of both the BJP and the Left parties in Andhra Pradesh in the coming elections in November.

The Left parties have to contend with the opposition their local units have to Naidu in Andhra Pradesh and to Laloo Yadav in Bihar. The scene is set for the Congress going on its own in the elections whenever they are held. Whether it forges an alliance with members of the Third Force will depend on how it fares in the polls.