Scramble for allies reaches fever pitch

The Congress

Following the lead taken on Thursday by Congress President Sonia Gandhi, second rung party leaders have begun to fish for possible allies.

Sonia has approved seven leaders to liaise with the regional parties to seek support for the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance.

Jaipal Reddy to woo Praja Rajyam Party chief Chiranjeevi. The Congress has made contingency plans to form the Andhra Pradesh government with the PRP's support. After instructions from Sonia's political secretary Ahmed Patel, Reddy drove to Chiranjeevi's home in Hyderabad on Friday to understand what's on the superstar's mind.

K V Thankgabalu has been asked to establish contact with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.

Kamal Nath will meet Biju Janata Dal chief Naveen Patnaik -- they were in Doon School together -- in Bhubaneshwar on Saturday.

A K Antony will fly to Chennai to meet Pattali Makkal Katchi leaders Dr S Ramadoss and his son Dr A Ramadoss.

Pranab Mukherjee will coordinate all these activities.

General Secretaries Digvijay Singh and Rahul Gandhi will meet President Pratibha Patil on Saturday soon after the results.

The Bharatiya Janata Party

Arun Jaitley will meet Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati through her adviser Satish Chandra Mishra.

Cho Ramaswamy met AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa in Chennai and sought an appointment for Narendra Modi.

Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh drove to L K Advani's home at 12.30 pm on Friday.

A National Democratic Alliance meeting is being held at Advani's home for which Telengana Rashtriya Samiti leaders have arrived.

Narendra Modi to speak to Dinesh Trivedi, the influential Trinamool Congress leader, to enlist TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee's support in case the Congress and Left come together.

Meanwhile, the BJP has also engineered a collective signature campaign by party MLAs in Bihar with the active participation of Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi to withdraw support to the Nitish Kumar government if he goes with the Congress.

P A Sangma, the former Lok Sabha Speaker, is to meet Advani. This will lead to a split in the Nationalist Congress Party.

Others

Samajwadi Party General Secretary Amar Singh met BJP President Rajnath Singh at a wedding on Thursday night and is keen to have another meeting on Saturday.