The CWC, which met for over two hours at 10, Janpath, for only the second time since the Vajpayee government fell, went on the offensive from the start.

For once, Arjun Singh was relatively quiet leaving the floor to colleagues like Rajesh Pilot, Sharad Pawar and others. Singh has been at the receiving end of a strong attack by senior Congressmen who allege that he let Sonia down by misrepresenting the ``ground situation''.

Apparently, the Left made a last-minute attempt to patch things up and two leaders from the CPI and the CPM got in touch with CWC leaders to see if the Congress would back West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu's candidature for the Prime Ministership. The message was that if the CWC said yes, the CPM Politburo could be ``persuaded'' toelect Basu as the leader of the Third Front.

It was swiftly vetoed by a determined CWC which then asked Sonia to go on the offensive from Rashtrapati Bhavan itself. Once the line was laid down, Sonia went with it. She told the media that all was over, at least for the moment. And from now on, the Congress would play a lone hand.

``I was given time to try and convince our allies to support a Congress minority government from outside. I tried my best to convince our colleagues and friends in the other secular parties, who had earlier supported us, to support a Congress government but I was unable to do so. I have told the President that we have the support of 239 MPs and are ready to accept whatever he decides,'' Sonia said.

Then came the steel. Asked if she would back a Third Front government, Sonia was unrelenting. ``No. We are not ready to pardon. We are not ready to support a Third Front, Fourth Front or whatever it is called. We will not give our support to anybody else. Unfortunately, I feel thatwhile many, many secular parties were sincere in their support to us, some others put their personal interests before the interests of the country,'' the Congress president said.

The phrase ``not ready to pardon'' is the strongest used by Sonia to refer to any other party and is a pointer to the Congress' future plans. Mulayam Singh had betrayed the Congress, the CWC felt, and he must be taken on. This is the second instance in recent times that the CWC has concluded it was betrayed. The first was in 1992, when the Babri Masjid was demolished by Rightist cadres after the then Congress president, and Prime Minister, P.V. Narasimha Rao believed what the RSS and BJP leadership told him. Now, the CWC feels people like Arjun Singh believed Mulayam ``too much'' resulting in a personal loss of face for Sonia.

``I don't know why the Congress has been quiet so far. We must expose these people, like Mulayam Singh, who has been saying from the beginning that we should form the government. Now, we are being unfairlyput in a position of explaining, as if we caused the fall of the Vajpayee government,'' CWC member Rajesh Pilot said, articulating the feelings of a majority of the CWC.Sonia concurred. She told journalists that the Congress did nothing to bring about the fall of the BJP-led government. ``Not at all. The government turned into a minority after one of its allies withdrew support. And as the leader of the largest secular party, it was my duty and the duty of my party to defeat the government's motion of confidence,'' Sonia said.

Today marks the first major setback for Sonia in her fledgling political career. Indications are she will lead a Congress offensive sparing only parties like the RJD, RPI, IUML, CPM and CPI. Uttar Pradesh will be the next big battle-field, CWC leaders felt today.