Congress MPs were completely in the dark about the moves of their party leader. Only V. George, Arjun Singh, M.L. Fotedar and Ram Pradhan called the new Gang of Four seemed aware of just what Sonia Gandhi was up to. Some party leaders foolishly exposed their ignorance by discussing with the media the possibility of a consensus candidate for prime ministership, like Jyoti Basu, P. Shiv Shankar or Manmohan Singh, not comprehending that the only candidate their party chief had in mind was herself. Madhavrao Scindia was holding forth on a TV talk show on how the Congress would accept a coalition government, when the anchor informed him that Sonia Gandhi had already staked her claim for an exclusively Congress minority government two hours earlier!

Congress MPs were almost unanimous in blaming Arjun Singh for his poor sense of timing and tactics. Singh is perhaps being made the scapegoat. Though they would like to assume that Sonia has been pushed into a situation not of herchoosing; she is in fact scripting the moves. Similarly, when the I.K. Gujral government was brought down over the flimsy Jain Commission report, everyone blamed Arjun Singh, but would he have dared proceed without a go-ahead from Sonia?

The reluctant debutante of Indian politics has emerged from her shell and got down into the business of deal-making with a vengeance. The question is why has Sonia chosen such poor timing to descend from her pedestal? The conspiracy-minded BJP believes that Sonia's unseemly haste to seize power is connected with the Bofors investigation. The CBI's request to prosecute Madhavsinh Solanki, a former minister is with the President since March. The CBI wants to charge-sheet Solanki along with Gopi Arora and S.K. Bhatnagar. They point out that the Gujral Government fell abruptly around the time the CBI dispatched a sleuth to the Channel Islands on the trail of the Bofors payments.

Another explanation is that Sonia felt that Vajpayee was finally consolidating his position afterthe Lahore bus ride and a good budget and if she did not take this opportunity to act the BJP government would have come out trumps.

My own surmise is that Sonia genuinely sees herself as the true inheritor of Indira Gandhi's mantle. She is probably inspired by the chapter of Indira Gandhi's life when in 1969 Indira -- described by political foes as the gungi guddiya defied the party veterans and split the Congress to form a minority government. Indira then went back to the electorate asking for a majority on her own so that she was not hampered by obstructionist politicians. She won a massive mandate. So greatly does Sonia empathise with her late mother-in-law that she has even developed a twitch in the left eye which is eerily reminiscent of Indira's famous twitch.

Empty vessels

The key headhunters of the A.B. Vajpayee led alliance, Pramod Mahajan and P. R. Kumaramangalam, were proof of the old proverb that empty vessels make the loudest noise. Stories of suitcases and petis were freelybandied about in Parliament's Central Hall, but despite his loud talk Mahajan did not produce a single defector.

Om Prakash Chautala's volte-face was courtesy Parkash Singh Badal. Bhairon Singh Shekhawat roped in Anand Mohan Singh through the Rajput network. The CPI now claims that Kim Gangte the MP from Manipur disappeared after showing up at the start of last Saturday's session because of an asthmatic attack, but a deep throat says that it was another MP from the North-East, Omak Apang, who used his persuasive powers on her as well.

If anything Mahajan lost at least one vote for his side. Chandra Shekhar had promised that if a single vote made the difference he would side with the BJP alliance. But since Mahajan gave the impression that his side had votes to spare, Shekhar did not want to deviate from the habit of a life-term. Ram Jethmalani offered Sanjay Singh's assistance in talking to some Samajwadi Party MPs whom he knew well, but the Prime Minister asked them to leave the matter in Mahajan's ablehands.

Papaji, don't preach

In bourgeoise parties Harkishen Singh Surjeet would have been termed a fixer but in the high-minded and rather hypocritical CPI(M) he is no doubt referred to as a key interlocutor. But is the CPI(M)'s much vaunted king maker losing his touch? First Subramanian Swamy stole Surjeet's thunder by hosting the tea-party where Jayalalitha and Sonia met. Then papaji as he as known to fellow comrades assured Sonia that the Third Front would support her minority government from outside and on the basis of Surjeet's sweeping assurance Sonia marched off to Rashtrapati Bhawan to stake her claim.

Surjeet's normally pliant Third Front flock was furious that he did not consult them before giving the go-ahead to Sonia. Mulayam Singh Yadav pointed out that he had not attended Swamy's tea party at Surjeet's bidding and now papaji had suddenly changed his stance. I.K. Gujral demanded to know just how Surjeet had the divine right to certify who was communal and who was corrupt. Even someof Surjeet's comrades in the CPI (M), RSP and Forward Block wondered at his sudden vehemence in pleading for Sonia to be installed and the attempt to present a fait accompli. If the Third Front finally falls in line it will be more due to the fear of polls than papaji's preaching.