12 May 2004	Wednesday	21 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425

NEW DELHI: India's two leading political powers were scrambling on Tuesday to tie up alliances with smaller parties after exit polls showed a hung parliament is likely in the country's just-ended marathon vote.

Two television exit polls said the ruling Hindu nationalist coalition would narrowly secure a parliamentary majority or be within striking distance of the 272 seats needed to form a government, but three others predicted it could fall adrift by 24 to 42 seats.

Leaders of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which heads the alliance, said they were looking to increase the number of coalition partners, including trying to woo small parties from the fold of the main rival Congress Party.

The chances of Congress and its allies of forming a government appeared to be dim, with the exit polls showing them winning between 171 and 191 seats. However, the Congress camp was upbeat on Tuesday after notching unexpected victories and has set up a team of senior leaders to start talks with regional groupings, party officials said.

Boosting their mood further was the announcement on Tuesday that Congress had toppled a key ally of the ruling Hindu nationalists, the Telegu Desam Party, from power in state elections in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.

Analysts said the resounding defeat of the BJP's ally was likely to reflect in the national elections in the state, which were held simultaneously with the state poll.

In a bid to lure smaller parties, Congress late on Monday announced it would select a prime ministerial candidate by consensus if it could muster a majority with help of other parties, and not insist on its own leader Sonia Gandhi for the position.

Analysts said some of the two dozen regional parties, many of which have a single member in parliament, are likely to extract a heavy price in exchange for their support to the bigger parties.

Mulayam Singh Yadav, leader of the influential regional Samajwadi Party in politically key Uttar Pradesh state, told the Hindu newspaper he would join the BJP-led coalition only if offered the position of prime minister or deputy prime minister. -AFP