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India opposition sees opportunity in Congress chaos

NEW DELHI: India's socialist opposition leaders declared support on Saturday for key ruling Congress party rebels in a bid to boost their chances in coming polls and end Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao's hopes of a second term.

The opposition said they would help two former ministers of Rao's cabinet, Kamal Nath and Madhavrao Scindia, after Congress denied them tickets.

The two are among seven Congress members who resigned from the party to faces charges over an $18 million bribes-for-favours scandal. All seven, who were denied tickets, have denied any wrongdoing.

Scindia and Nath have filed nominations as independents to run in the polls, which start on April 27 and end on May 30.

The socialist Janata Dal offered open support to Scindia, and tacitly opted out of the race against Nath in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, party leaders said.

"In the case of Scindia, his conduct on democracy and communalism has been good," Inder Gujral, a senior party leader, told Reuters on Saturday.

"It is not a blanket support (to all Congress rebels)."

Gujral said his party had also reached an understanding with another breakaway group founded by former Congress ministers.

Former prime minister Chandra Shekhar, who leads a splinter socialist party, offered full-scale support to Scindia, who is popular in the central state of Madhya Pradesh.

"A person of Mr Scindia's reputation and calibre deserved full support from all of us," he said in a statement on Friday.

Opposition support of Scindia and Nath is seen as part of a tactic crucial to the success of parties in the coming polls.

Hundreds of parties and thousands of candidates are expected to contest the 543 seats in the federal parliament. Forging alliances and the fielding of recognised candidates is seen as a key way to boost the chances of competing parties.

Congress' chances of keeping its majority look slim after the taint of several corruption scandals and resignations of several key members, including Commerce Minister P. Chidambaram and junior Industry Minister M. Arunachalam.

Both quit on Wednesday to ally with an opposition group and were then expelled by Congress, but the party has backtracked on the expulsion by holding out hope that the rebels would return.

On Tuesday, the first opinion poll of the campaign showed that Congress was expected to command no more than 191 of the 543 elected seats in parliament's lower house, or Lok Sabha.

In 1991, Rao's party won 232 seats and later clinched a majority through defections from other parties.

In their bid to oust Rao, his party rivals have become key allies for the huge number of regional groups and chieftains trying to eat away at Congress's strength.

Some 5,000 candidates in 543 constituencies had filed papers by a Wednesday deadline, and Saturday was the last day for the withdrawal of nominations.-Reuter