She also ruled out support to a Third Front government, thereby passing the ball back to the President who called Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee for consultations tonight.

Earlier in the day, the Jyoti Basu option floated by Mulayam Singh Yadav and J Jayalalitha, was scotched by the CPM Politburo. The formal refusal came after it became clear late last night that the Congress was in no mood to give outside support to another coalition experiment.

CPM general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet said realistically afterwards, ``I do not know how a government can be formed without the Congress.''Although it was apparent that given the tough positions taken by all concerned, an alternative formation was notemerging, the opposition camp made frenetic efforts all through the day hoping for a last-minute solution.Congress intermediaries parked themselves at Mulayam's residence for the better part of the day while he consulted his partymen. He said a final ``no'' shortly before the deadline of Sonia's 5 p.m. meeting with the President.

As news spread about the opposition's failure to come up with an alternative, the BJP redoubled its efforts to make up its shortfall of numbers so that it could stake claim again. Their hopes were buoyed by the indication a party delegation received from Rashtrapati Bahvan yesterday that if there is an ``accretion in strength'', Vajpayee's claim could be reconsidered.

The BJP's hopes centred around three parties the Janata Dal, the TMC and the lone SJP MP Chandra Shekhar. For the past two days, BJP leaders from Home Minister L.K. Advani downwards have been trying their best to persuade these parties to back the Vajpayee Government in the interest of avoiding an early mid-termpoll.

However, till the time Vajpayee went to Rashtrapati Bhavan, there were no indications of success.

The question now vexing most MPs is whether there will be a mid-term poll and the timing of the poll. The BJP is anxious that a snap election be held in June so that it can cash in on the sympathy that appears to be with Vajpayee for his one-vote defeat in the Lok Sabha.

The Congress, on the other hand, wants the elections delayed till October, hoping that time will dissipate the sympathy. It feels that in the next six months, the caretaker government will have to take several unpleasant decisions on the economic front. It will also have to decide whether to sign the CTBT.

Election Commissioner G.V.G. Krishnamurty said that ``it will take two to three months'' for the commission to be fully prepared to conduct the exercise.