Twenty-four hours after the fall of the Vajpayee government, Congress president and chairperson of the Congress parliamentary party (CPP) Sonia Gandhi had yet to come out with a concrete proposal before the friendly opposition parties on the formation of the new Government.

Even before the Congress blue print, however, two Left Front partners--Forward Block (FB) and Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) with a combined strength of seven MPs--threw a spanner saying they would not support any Government led by the Congress. At the end of a meeting of the Left Front partners here on Sunday, CPI(M) general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet admitted that there were reservations on the part of the RSP and the FB. He said that they would meet again on Monday in an effort toresolve the issue.

Sonia Gandhi held two rounds of discussions with senior party members in the course of the day to discuss the issue of Government formation. Leaders present at the meeting included Arjun Singh, Sharad Pawar, Manmohan Singh, Pranab Mukherjee, K Karunakaran, and AK Antony.

Briefing newspersons about the meeting, Arjun Singh hinted that his party would make the next move after the President took an initiative on Government formation. "We don't want to act without that initiative from the President," Singh told reporters when asked whether the party had initiated talks with other opposition parties for an alternative formation.

Arjun Singh also declined to hazard a guess whether the alternative formation would be a Congress Government or a Congress-led coalition. "We don't want to be speculative in these matters," he added.

Singh, however, insisted that the act of Government formation would be completed although the task was "not easy". He also parried a question if Sonia Gandhi mightnominate any other leader as Prime Minister.

A crucial meeting of the general body of the CPP has, meanwhile, been called for Monday morning, which would be addressed by Sonia Gandhi. The meeting has been convened to judge the mood of the parliamentary party as regards formation of the new Government.

On its part, the Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha (RLM), the second-largest grouping after the Congress with 37 MPs, hinted in no uncertain terms that it stood for a coalition Government with strong participation in the new set-up. After an RLM meeting, party spokesman Amar Singh told newspersons: "We are definitely in favour of joining a coalition set-up."

Significantly, Amar Singh met AIADMK chief J Jayalalitha for 45 minutes on Sunday, and later told journalists that Mulayam Singh and Laloo Prasad Yadav would shortly meet her to discuss the political situation. Asked if Mulayam Singh wanted to become Prime Minister, Amar Singh said that the RLM leader had not said so.

It is clear, however, that the Yadavduo's meeting with Jayalalitha is likely to result in a formula for discussion with the Congress party on the thorny issue of Government formation.

The two Yadavs are credited with the view that there should be no delay in arriving at an alternative set-up. Significantly, Mulayam Singh and Laloo Yadav reportedly held telephonic conversations with the Left Front leaders, impressing upon them the need to stick together for forming a coalition Government led by the Congress. In other words, the two Yadavs appeared to be working to persuade the RSP and the FB to agree to the formation of a Congress-led coalition Government. According to Congress sources, Sonia herself is keen to head a minority Government with outside support of the friendly parties which have contributed to the fall of the Vajpayee government.