While the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has projected Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee again for the post, the main opposition Congress party is more or less unanimous in its decision to anoint party president Sonia Gandhi as prime minister in the event of an upset victory. However, the party's official position is that its elected members of the Lok Sabha would choose their leader after the polls.

However, there are indications that if the Congress doesn't get a majority on its own, somebody other than Sonia Gandhi could be put up for the post. Party sources say that leaders like Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijay Singh are not averse to be the Prime Minister, his public protestations notwithstanding.

Other names mentioned are former finance minister Manmohan Singh and former Keralachief minister AK Antony, both of whom have a clean image. Some leaders of the Third Front, a conglomeration of non-Congress and non-BJP parties, believe that the elections would once again result in a hung Parliament enhancing their bargaining powers to help them realise their prime ministerial ambitions. Sources say secret parleys are already under way as absence of a clear-cut verdict would make the Front's support crucial for the major parties if they want to form a government.

A Third Front government, however, appears remote, going by the various exit polls. However, the general feeling among the Third Front leaders is that if neither the NDA nor the Congress party gets the required majority, the proverbial ball will finally be in their court.

The Third Front leaders have already started informal discussions with the non-BJP party leaders to explore the possibility of a non-Congress, non-BJP government after one exit poll forecast that the Congress would bag more than 170 seats in the 545-memberLok Sabha.

Sources told IANS that Harkishen Singh Surjeet, general secretary of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), met Ramakrishna Hegde, Lok Shakti leader and commerce minister in Bangalore. Hegde is himself a prime ministerial aspirant. He has several times publicly expressed his unhappiness with the "big brother attitude" of the BJP and the Third Front leaders believe that he would not hesitate to desert the BJP when the time came.

"As (defence minister and socialist party leader) George Fernandes has already burnt his fingers by attacking the Congress party, Hegde will be more acceptable to the Congress party also. One must notice that he has not said a word against the Congress president and the party," noted one observer.

The Left parties, it seems, want to project their veteran leader and West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu as prime minister. Basu, 85, has already expressed his willingness to take on the responsibility. Surjeet has reportedly also had discussions with All IndiaDravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leader Jayaram Jayalalitha also in this connection.

Among others in the list of prime ministerial hopefuls are Samajwadi party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav. A former defence minister, Yadav has privately indicated that if he managed to get more than 50 seats he can bargain for the post.

It has been a cherished dream for Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar to become prime minister. He left the Congress party and formed the NCP after realising that he would never achieve his ambition if he remained in the Congress. "Pawar these days has become soft to the Congress and is not ruling out the possibility of joining with the party to form a government," claimed a senior Congress leader.

While the Third Front leaders are nurturing dreams of becoming prime minister with the support of the Congress party, the latter maintains that it will form a government on its own. "If we do not have a majority of our own and the other parties are not willing to accept SoniaGandhi as prime minister, we will then suggest our own leaders for the job," a Congress leader said.

India Abroad News Service