A third of the CWC had dissented yesterday and felt President's Rule should be ratified. This feeling spread to several party MPs and ex-MPs in Parliament's Central Hall today where the main topic were the ``blunders'' committed by the Congress leadership in Orissa, by sacking JB Patnaik, and Bihar supporting the RJD.

The formal voicing of protest against Sonia's directive in the CWC yesterday is a rareoccurrence and is being seen as an indication of the extent of unhappiness in the party. With this in mind, Sonia attempted a balancing act today shifting the focus to the Centre in her discussions with other Opposition leaders.

The exercise appears to be aimed at giving shape to a secular alternative to the BJP-led coalition in the anticipation that the Vajpayee ministry could collapse ``soon'' as the ``main ruling party is succumbing to threats and pressure from partners while the national agenda for governance is in tatters''.

Sonia first called on her predecessor Sitaram Kesri on the Bihar episode, then met President KR Narayanan at Rashtrapati Bhavan and followed it up with important meetings with CPM general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet, in a hospital yesterday, and Laloo Yadav today.

RJD MP Prem Gupta accompanied Laloo to 10, Janpath but was asked to wait in the office of Sonia's private secretary Vincent George while the two leaders talked to each other. Apparently, The RJD presidentthanked Sonia for opposing the ratification of the President's Rule in Bihar and reiterated his offer of support to the Congress should it want to form a government at the Centre.

Sonia is understood to have in the office of Sonia's private secretary Vincent George while the two leaders talked to each other.

Apparently, Laloo thanked Sonia for opposing the ratification of the President's Rule in Bihar and reiterated his offer of support to the Congress should it want to form a government at the Centre.

Sonia is understood to have been non-committal on this and, on her part, stressed that the welfare of Dalits in Bihar was paramount in future. Sources said Sonia raised the Dalits' issue thrice in the meeting and Laloo is said to have agreed to take ``immediate steps'' on this front. There was no word on whether the Congress president sought a change of leadership in Bihar when the RJD government is reinstated. Laloo later said ``there was no question of it''.

An official Congress statement on the issuesaid: ``The Congress president told him (Laloo) that her greatest anxiety and concern was about the sufferings of Dalits and their persecution in the state. Every effort has to be made to put a stop to this and ensure protection for them.''

It was an issue Sonia was forced to stress upon following the rising anger in party circles at her decision to oppose President's Rule in Bihar. The state Congress leadership is still in a state of shock after the decision came as a total surprise for them. CLP leader Ramashrey Prasad Singh and PCC president Sadanand Singh now have the unhappy task of dealing with party cadres who have sunk into a state of depression.

The feeling is that forward castes, Dalits and SC/STs who were drifting back to the Congress will now halt and think again. Many top Congress leaders feel the CWC decision to oppose President's Rule will consolidate the anti-Laloo vote around the BJP-Samata party instead of the Congress gaining. Likewise, the backwards will flock to Laloo and not to theCongress even though the Rabri Devi government was saved by the CWC.This view was expressed by seven CWC members in the crucial meeting yesterday: Sharad Pawar, Pranab Mukherjee, Jitendra Prasada, Madhavrao Scindia, Rajesh Pilot, Sushil Kumar Shinde and Meira Kumar. They felt the decision was ``not in the party's interest'' and would harm an already struggling Congress in Bihar.

However, an emotional Shinde was countered by an equally impassioned Sitaram Kesri and Sonia finally took Kesri's side. The next step was to counter the Bihar issue with the fate of the union government. Sonia stressed on the failings of the Vajpayee government in her CPP address reserving praise only for his bus trip to Pakistan. ``Does a central government which exculpates suspects before investigation has even begun, retain the moral right to continue enjoying the confidence of the House,'' she asked. Elsewhere in the speech, she said: ``We continue to be treated to the humiliating spectacle of our country's national governmentcaught up in squabbling among its diverse and disparate partners.

``Individual constituents are making demands which threaten the coalition. There is complete confusion within the ranks. There are deep divisions between the government and its ideological mentors and serious differences between senior members of the government... People expect us to rise to our constitutional responsibilities if the ruling coalition falters and its contrived edifice render it unable to fulfil its own responsibility,'' Sonia said.

An hour later, Sharad Pawar, Ajit Jogi and other Congress leaders met Mulayam Singh, Laloo, Somnath Chatterjee and CPI leaders for ``floor coordination'' in the Budget session. Moves to topple the Vajpayee government are being seen as the logical extension of this by Congressmen.