Congress And BJP Woo to Allies

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New Delhi: With the exit polls predicting a close fight between the NDA and the UPA, the BJP and the Congress convened their respective high level meetings here on Thursday to discuss post-poll strategy and woo possible allies.

Senior Congress leaders met at the residence of Party President Sonia Gandhi to discuss their strategy for possible post poll alliances.

Gandhi is seeking the opinion of the state leaders and also the party general secretaries.

The BJP meeting is being held at the residence of its prime ministerial candidate LK Advani and is being attended by all senior leaders including Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who arrived here today morning.

The other leaders who are part of the meeting are party president Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley, Arun Shourie and strategist Sudhendra Kulkarni.

As per reports, Modi would be given the task of convincing AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa, who had been flirting with the Third Front earlier, to back the NDA.

On his mission in Delhi, Modi said that his visit purely political but refuse to divulge more on the BJP’s game plan.

Modi told reporters before the meeting, “I am here to take part in the post-poll political process. What is there to hide”.

However, in a lighter vein, he said, “Now it’s time to relax a bit after the busy campaigning.”

Apart from Modi, reports said that Arun Jaitley and Vasundhra Raje have been given the task of bringing Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik back to the NDA fold.

On the other hand, Venkaiah Naidu has been told to hold “talks” with Telugu Desam Party Chief Chandrababu Naidu.

In the exit polls, the ruling UPA appears to have emerged as the single largest grouping and projected to get between 190 to 205 seats with the NDA not far behind at 185 to 196 in the 543-member House, opening up the possibility of a key role for small parties in government formation.

Projecting a highly-fractured verdict, the surveys have placed the Third Front at a little over 100 seats.