With the D-day hours away, the Congress today charted out the possible scenarios that could emerge from tomorrow’s Lok Sabha results, and the options before the party in those scenes. The party has also constituted an informal team of senior leaders to talk to various pre-poll and possible post-poll allies, like the Left and Samajwadi Party.In that direction, the Congress broke the ice with the Samajwadi Party with party spokesperson Jaipal Reddy running into Mulayam Singh ‘‘by chance,’’ under the full glare of the Press, at the residence of Harkishen Singh Surjeet.In the first case, the Congress is hoping a classical hung Lok Sabha with the NDA as well as the Congress — with its allies and the Left — getting equal number of seats of around 250. The party leaders, at various meetings today, felt that if the Congress and its pre-poll allies manage around 200 seats, then, along with the Left, it would be in a striking distance to the majority. However, for that scenario, it would need the help of Mulayam Singh, who is pegged to get around 25 to 30 seats in these elections.The second case the party is considering is the Congress and allies not reaching the crucial 250 mark. This could happen if the Congress and pre-poll allies together fail to get over 180 to 200 seats. The third case — that is the Congress, its allies and the Left getting more than the NDA — would make decision-making simpler.The party’s newly-constituted ‘committee for allies’ had been busy since morning with senior party leaders keeping in touch with various parties. Senior leaders like Natwar Singh were in touch with Samajwadi Party leaders, who the Congress hopes, would come with it and not repeat 1999.But till the modalities are worked out with other allies, the Congress has decided to keep at bay the issue of leadership of the coalition, so much so that even the daily press briefing of the party was cancelled today. The party has carefully chosen about a dozen senior leaders who would be appearing on television channels tomorrow during and after counting.Each one of them would be briefed on exactly what to say to various questions on the number of seats, the leadership issue and the issue of government-formation. Says member of the strategy committee, Jairam Ramesh, ‘‘The first matter we will address tomorrow after the results is that any performance less than 270-280 for the NDA will be a moral failure.’’ ‘‘Secondly,’’ he said, ‘‘we are interested in taking a morally strong position when the numbers are put together of the Congress, allies and Left,’’ he added. ‘‘For the allies, the choice clearly would be between a BJP-led or a Congress-led coalition,’’ he added.
