Within hours of the photo-finish victory of the Opposition parties, followed by resignation of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) met under the chairmanship of Sonia Gandhi and unanimously authorised her to take all necessary actions towards formation of a new government.

According to a Rashtrapati Bhavan communique late tonight, meanwhile, the President accepted the resignation of Vajpayee and his council of ministers, but has asked him to continue in office till an alternative government is set up.

In an unprecedented close fight, the Vajpayee government scored 269 votes as against 270 of the opposition, thanks, perhaps, to Orissa chief minister Giridhar Gamang who was allowed to cast vote after an hour-long procedural wrangle.Gamang continues to be a Lok Sabha MP, not having contested the assembly poll after being sent as CM two months ago.

The five-member BSP was, however, the real architect of the opposition victory as it did a volte face and voted against the motion after promising to abstain in favour of the coalition. Saifuddin Soz of the National Conference also voted against the motion disregarding his party's decision. There were three abstentions.

Reacting to his government's defeat, Vajpayee said this was because some people "who had promised support to us did not keep their word". Home Minister LK Advani attributed the defeat to participation of Gamang "violating all procedures". Mayawati said the BSP took the decision to avenge the humiliation heaped on her party by the BJP in UP where she was reduced to minority by splitting her party.

Vajpayee accepted his defeat gracefully, went to Rashtrapati Bhavan soon after holding an emergency meeting of the Union Cabinet and submitted his resignation to President KRNarayanan. He was accompanied by senior leaders of the party, including Advani.

In their 40-minute-long meeting with the President, the outgoing team suggested that he should ensure that the alternative government had a minimum of 272 members and that it should be ready to prove its majority before taking oath. Pramod Mahajan said the President should procure letters of support from all the supporting parties like he did in the case of Vajpayee. All eyes are now glued to Rashtrapati Bhavan as regards its next move. In all probability, the President will invite the Congress party to form the new government. Accordingly, the party is getting ready for the invitation. As indicated by Arjun Singh on Saturday, the Congress will not stake a claim on its own.

The process of consultation with other parties has already begun with party functionaries discussing the issue of government formation. But all parties will take a formal stand after their apex body meetings. The Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha (RLM) of Mulayamand Laloo Yadav met for two hours on Saturday and decided to keep its option open on joining or supporting the new government from outside till the Congress makes known its own position on the matter. A RLM spokesman said after the meeting that the morcha would take a decision in consultation with other friendly parties. The CPI(M) politburo is meeting on Sunday to take stock of the political situation even though party veteran and West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu stated on Saturday that Congress should form the government.

Earlier in the day, CPP leader in Lok Sabha Sharad Pawar exuded confidence when he told reporters: "We will discuss with other opposition parties and work for a viable alternative." He said the government would be formed under Sonia Gandhi's leadership. Arjun Singh also minced no word in saying soon after the victory that Sonia Gandhi was his party's choice for premiership. But he said the decision for the Prime Minister's post will be taken by all political parties.

In alllikelihood, Jayalalitha's AIADMK will become an active participant in the new coalition arrangement though no formal decision has been taken yet. TMC, however, made it clear that it would not participate in that event. u