Dealmakers take the reins in Indian election race

NEW DELHI (AFP) - Indias main political parties went hunting for friends Thursday, armed with exit polls suggesting month-long elections had delivered another stalemate that only new allies could break.
As the worlds largest democracy breathed a collective sigh of relief that its marathon ballot had concluded without major incident, it fast became clear another huge task remained in building a viable government.
Half a dozen polls by news channels gave the ruling alliance led by the secular centre-left Congress party a slight edge over the main opposition bloc headed by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The predicted margin was between five and 20 seats, but neither grouping had anywhere near the 272 seats needed for a parliamentary majority.
Exit polls have proved wildly inaccurate in past votes but until the Election Commission declares the official result Saturday, they will lend Congress a slight psychological advantage in its coalition-building battle with the BJP.
By tradition, the party winning the most seats has first right to try to form a government.
With both sides needing around 70 extra seats, the challenge is not only to find new allies among Indias myriad regional parties, but also to ensure existing partners are not lured away by promises of power.
Past commitments, positions or loyalties count for very little, said analyst Subhash Agarwal, of India Focus, a political risk publication.
Congress leaders met at the home of party president Sonia Gandhi for strategy talks Thursday while the controversial BJP chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi, huddled with Hindu nationalist chiefs.
Im here to take part in the post-poll political process, said Modi, a smooth-talking campaign star tipped as a future premier but shadowed by accusations he turned a blind eye to the massacre of Muslims during 2002 riots in his state.
Congress has been making overtures to its ex-communist allies and has also reportedly been in touch by telephone with the powerful chief minister of Bihar state, Nitish Kumar, who is supposed to be tied up with the BJP.
In a potential boost to Congress, communist leader Prakash Karat told the Economic Times newspaper that the Left was determined not to give the BJP any scope to exploit the post-polls numbers game to form a government.
The cloak-and-dagger nature of the horse-trading was highlighted earlier this week when the head of the Janata Dal regional party, H.D. Kumaraswamy, drove to Gandhis home with his face covered.
Until now, he has insisted his loyalties lie with the only viable alternative to the two main blocs-a so-called Third Front of regional parties.
The BJPs dealmakers have also been busy, picking up partners and sometimes jettisoning old ones in the process.
We lost one ally but got five, the partys candidate for prime minister L.K. Advani proudly told a recent rally. The worry that principle may be sacrificed on the altar of expediency has been a theme of newspaper editorials and TV debates.
Its open season for building and breaking alliances, said the Mail Today in a story headlined: Anybodys game now.
Even by Indias standards of ideological easy accommodation, theres a certain Alice-in-Wonderland quality to these elections, said Agarwal. Parties are increasingly ambiguous regarding their position on major policy issues. If the two main alliances fail to make a breakthrough, the path to power might open up for the Third Front, but such a coalition would suffer from the large number of disparate parties it would need to form a government.
This is the outcome the investment community dreads-a Third Front victory and the negative consequences for business and political instability, said Deepak Lalwani, India director of brokerage Astaire and Partners.