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Politics Business Expressions General Sports Leisure States 04 March 1998   Search for splinters to swim ashore The Congress has begun moves to woo rebel party leader Mamata Banerjee in its efforts to beat the Bharatiya Janata Party in the numbers game and cobble together a credible alliance with the United Front. Congress leader Sharad Pawar reportedly contacted Mamata to convince her not to strike a formal alliance with the BJP.   Naidu admits UF's failure, goes soft on BJP Retracting from his earlier statement that the Lok Sabha elections were a referendum on his government, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said he has kept his options open on extending the Telugu Desam Party's (TDP) support to either the Congress or BJP at the Centre. Naidu added that the TDP politburo would soon meet to discuss the "new political situation" at the national level. BJP gets its first foothold in Andhra Andhra Pradesh was one of the few states where the anti-incumbency bite was minimum, yet the Telugu Desam Party suffered a few reverses. The Congress retained its strength while the BJP secured its first footholds bagging four seats. TDP and company together secured 15 seats as against the 20 they had earlier, while the Congress won 22. BJD chairman demands ouster of Patnaik govt Bijay Mahapatra, the chairman of Biju Janata Dal's (BJD) political affairs committee, yesterday demanded the resignation of the J B Patnaik government to seek a fresh mandate in view of the Congress rout in the state. The Congress retained only five out of a total of 21 Lok Sabha seats in the state with the rest going to the BJP-BJD alliance.   BJP defies anti-incumbency factor in UP Despite the much talked about anti-incumbency factor showing the trick in many states, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) bagged 60 out of 85 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, improving upon its earlier tally of 53 by seven seats. The Samajwadi Party also improved its earlier tally of 16 seats by securing 20 seats. Knives out against Mahanta for putting up the "wrong men" The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), which suffered a massive defeat at the hands of the Congress and the BJP in the 14 Lok Sabha seats with not a single candidate making it to Parliament, is heading for more trouble with the detractors of party chief Prafulla Kumar Mahanta once again beginning to revolt.     Tupe all praise for Pawar, RPI   A question with no answers   Congman Mohol wins Khed seat   Cong will go for the kill now   Vidarbha saffron failure no miracle   In MP, expect the expected   BJP-Lok Shakti combine rode home on Vajpayee, stability   Swing that threw BJP off in Rajasthan   Tiwari quits as UPCC chief   Counting on new methods fails to pay off in Delhi   Three political heirs make it, 5 lose   This Rajeev Gandhi has got only 74 votes in his kitty   Hundreds of votes wasted in Chandni Chowk   ...But Mamata insists she is behind the BJP   Naidu may cause a few heartaches in Cong, UF   President to wait till Mar 12 to form govt   Element of drama as Sena-BJP losers react   BJP comes back to power in Gujarat   Close call for Cong against BJP in Goa   Samata threatens RJD's future   Jaya thanks electorate   Bomb blasts worked in favour of BJP, says Moopanar   Link Dahanu and Mumbai   Ballots are Dalits answer to bullets   Paranjpe second in margin of votes   Oppn, union cry foul over tax hike   Pawar arrives, joins Congress party   Loss making "combine" of poor understanding