While former MPs who crowded Parliament’s central hall cried for elections, virtually every Lok Sabha MP who got to meet her in the meantime pleaded that elections be avoided.

Sonia Gandhi’s strident speech at Jhajjhar in Haryana, calling opponents of the deal “enemies” of the the Congress and progress, triggered another crisis. She was speaking almost at the same time Pranab Mukherjee was speaking to Jyoti Basu on a formulation that would allow the government to negotiate, but not sign up with the IAEA.

With Mukherjee reacting furiously — apparently even throwing up his hands on the negotiations — Congress managers were making late-night calls to clarify that Sonia was not attacking the Left. The next day Karat and Yechury met Sonia — the first time since the UPA-Left committee was set up. After the meeting Sonia was sure that she could either lose both the deal and the government or lose only the deal.

She reportedly told senior Congress leaders the same evening: “I don’t think there is any confusion in the Left on the issue.” Though nothing has been officially said to the Left on delaying the deal, with the public statement of Sonia and PM, the indications are clear. The PM has chosen to act rationally rather than reacting in haste — because the deal could still be saved. “He is now convinced that convincing the Americans is much easier than convincing the Left. He has apparently, already worked out a new timeline with the US,” said a senior Congress leader.