A rash of sons, daughters, brothers and wives have cropped up for the Congress nomination for the November 25 assembly elections to four states with MP again leading the way by a large margin. Indications are that almost all ``star relatives'' will be accommodated, indeed the mood is that if anyone is left out, he or she is welcome to join the gang.

CWC members Arjun Singh and Motilal Vora, former MP Chief Minister Shyama Charan Shukla, former MPCC chief Parasram Maderna, MP Speaker Srinivas Tiwari, MPs Charan Das Mahant and Jhamak Lal Bhedia and tribal leader Arvind Netam are seeking tickets for their relatives. It comprises practically all top state Congress leaders with the exception of Madhavrao Scindia, whose son apparently is ``not interested''.

Almostall of them are likely to get the party nomination. The rush is less in Rajasthan this time following the 1993 experience when the Congress lost to the BJP in the state after nominating a host of star relatives. In Delhi, at the moment, former minister H K L Bhagat's son Deepak Bhagat and former President Shanker Dayal Sharma's son-in-law Ajay Maken are to get the tickets.

But it is MP which takes the cake. Stakes are high for the BJP, which is keen to wrest power from the Congress, and the Congress, which is pulling out all stops to retain power, in MP. The Congress has already cleared a tie-up with the BSP for friendly contests in over 100 seats, a decision which is against the party's Pachmarhi Declaration to have poll alliances only when ``absolutely necessary''.

This was done on Tuesday night but the dust is yet to settle on the issue. Tomorrow's Pradesh Election Committee meeting in Bhopal is expected to be stormy with the group opposed to a tie-up planning to raise strong objections. While ChiefMinister Digvijay Singh will not be in a position to oppose anything, having been party to the deal, his supporters are slated to do the shouting.

For example, S C Shukla and V C Shukla are totally opposed to the tie-up and they have Digvijay, Scindia and Kamal Nath for company. And with the BSP leaders never ones to stick to anything, the chances of the Congress-BSP understanding surviving depend a lot on the next few days.

On top of all this comes the demand for sons, brothers and wives to be party candidates. Arjun Singh's son Ajay Singh is to be fielded from Churhat, Motilal Vora's son Arun Vora from Durg, S C Shukla's son Amitesh Shukla from Raipur, Parasram Maderna's daughter Basanti Yatalvar from Sarangarh, Rajya Sabha MP Jhumak Lal Bhedia's son Anil Bhedia from Dondi-Dohara, Lok Sabha MP Charan Das Mahant's wife from Champa (in Bilaspur district), Srinivas Tiwari's son Sundar Tiwari from Rewa and Arvind Netam's brother Shiv Netam from Kanker.

Of these, only Mahant's wife is understood to be on ashaky wicket and may even not make it. The rest are almost through. In addition, the Congress is planning to field two three-time Rajya Sabha MPs, Radha Kishan Malaviya and Suresh Pachauri from Indore and Bhopal respectively though a final decision on these two is yet to be taken.