President gives Gandhi more time to form new government

India's Congress party, led by the Italian-born Ms Sonia Gandhi, was yesterday given more time to try and form India's new government after a key ally declined to support it, plunging the country deeper into political chaos and pushing it closer to holding its third general election in three years.

"I would like to complete the process as soon as possible," Ms Gandhi said. "I have been asked to do so by the President."

She said she presented President K.R. Narayanan, with letters of support from 233 deputies, 39 short of the majority mark of 272, and said negotiations were continuing to make up the shortfall. And while Ms Gandhi had earlier said she would form a minority government with "outside" support, yesterday she did not rule out the possibility of being part of a coalition.

India's political crisis deepened after Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav's Socialist Party, with 20 MPs, said it would offer support to no party in forming the government to replace the one ousted at the weekend.

In a letter to the President, the opposition leader said his party would support neither the Congress nor the outgoing Hindu nationalist BJP-led coalition government as they had betrayed India's secular traditions and brought it to financial ruin through faulty economic policies.

Without Socialist support the Congress party, with 139 deputies, is far short of the parliamentary majority needed to form a government. Seven other left-wing MPs also declared their opposition to a Congress-led government, making it virtually impossible for Ms Gandhi to make good her claim that she would install a minority administration.

The Socialists were incensed over her "unilateral decision" earlier in the week to form a minority government with outside support without even consulting them. The party said it wanted to be part of a coalition government, which was not acceptable to Ms Gandhi.

Socialist MPs also raised objections to Ms Gandhi's foreign origins. She became an Indian citizen only after her husband, Rajiv Gandhi, became prime minister in 1985, some 16 years after her marriage.

Meanwhile, after Ms Gandhi's meeting with the President, party deputies were frantically trying to hammer out some arrangement by wooing members from smaller parties, reportedly with incentives to try and win their support and avoid elections at any cost.

A majority of deputies said no party wanted elections, convinced they would produce no conclusive verdict and the situation would end up being equally chaotic.

Deputies said there remained an outside chance that centre-left, non-Congress parties would try and form a coalition, but they too would need Congress support which may not be forthcoming. The ousted BJP said being the largest parliamentary party it too should be asked to form the new government.

All eyes are now on President Narayanan who, if Ms Gandhi fails in mustering sufficient support, will have to decide whether to examine more proposals or order elections.