In fact, there was wide support for the PM in the Congress when it all began — they all believed that the opinion within the CPM was divided, that the Left could not afford an election and would blink first.

Only two leaders, A K Antony and Pranab Mukherjee, advised caution. Having fought the Left as their principal opponent in their home states of Kerala and West Bengal, both had a different understanding of its functioning — which essentially meant that if at all any individual opinion counted in the CPM, it was the general secretary’s.

But in the days that followed, there were too many twists and turns and Congress colleagues and UPA allies began turning to Sonia Gandhi.

“It was Sonia Gandhi who built the alliance and made Singh the PM to run it. He had no authority to throw a challenge at the Left,” says a minister, ironically considered close to the PM.

The division of labour between Sonia and Singh never remained watertight. “Every conversation of an ally with the PM opened with the statement that we have spoken to Madam,” a source said.

While Sonia Gandhi repeatedly and publicly supported Singh, the feedback she was getting was not encouraging. For instance, Lalu Yadav took all his MPs for an interaction with Sonia Gandhi and all told her to avoid an election. Just two days before the U-turn, a large delegation of Congress leaders from Kerala — where the party expects to trounce the Left — told her that the party couldn’t expect Muslim support in the current environment and elections must be avoided.

... contd.