Sonia steps in to sew alliance; will meet Mayawati

As polling for the Lok Sabha elections concluded on Sunday, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi stepped in to put together a coalition.

She is likely to meet BSP supremo Mayawati, a key player in the Opposition ranks, to firm up plans to challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Mayawati is scheduled to visit the national capital, her first since the Lok Sabha polls started on April 11, as efforts to forge a grand alliance gathered pace with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu playing the role of the negotiator.

Naidu, who met Mayawati and her Uttar Pradesh coalition partner SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday, apprised Sonia, Congress president Rahul Gandhi and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar about his deliberations in Lucknow.

Also read: Exit Polls Live | NDA may score 280-300 seats

Late on Saturday evening, Sonia held a meeting with senior Congress leaders Ahmed Patel, A K Antony and former prime minister Manmohan Singh to discuss the emerging political situation.

Though exit polls indicated a clear majority for the NDA, an assessment by the Opposition parties pegged the BJP numbers anywhere between 190 and 200 seats.

The Opposition is closely watching the moves of Naveen Patnaik's BJD, K Chandrasekhar Rao's TRS and Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy's YSR Congress— parties that had chosen to stay away from the larger opposition ranks and are perceived to be soft towards the BJP.

While Naidu also met CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury and Loktantrik Janata Dal leader Sharad Yadav, AAP leader Sanjay Singh called on Pawar to discuss the political developments ahead of the Lok Sabha results.

The BSP-SP, the TMC, the Left parties and the AAP are not constituents of the Congress-led UPA and the effort of these parties would be to present a 'picture of unity' for being counted as a cohesive block in the post-results scenario.

As per convention, the president invites the single largest party to form the government at the Centre, but the current Opposition is pinning its hopes on getting a shot at power together if the BJP performs poorly at the hustings.

Sonia's Monday meeting with Mayawati will be keenly watched as the BSP supremo is also seen as a prime ministerial aspirant should the Congress numbers fall below 100, making it difficult for the grand old party to claim the leadership role in the next government.

Though Mayawati had been sharply critical of the Congress during the Lok Sabha elections, she had issued a statement in support of Sonia and Rahul Gandhi in Rae Bareli and Amethi parliamentary seats respectively.