Nehru's nomination was more of a surprise as the BJP continued to put pressure on 10, Janpath, by taking Rajiv's friends to its side, Nehru coming on the heels of Arun Singh, advisor in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). But Singh's nomination is more crucial as it offers the Congress a possible non-Sonia Gandhi card to play if the elections result in a hung Parliament.

Several anti-Sonia leaders have suggested she wouldn't be as "attractive" as Singh for fence-sitters in a tight situation and that the Congress must have an alternative to Sonia. The Congress high command too seems to have arrived at the same conclusion, deftlypushing the former finance minister into the fray. Singh, who is widely respected, has a high rating with a clean image which even people like Sharad Pawar may find tough to counter, or so the Congress hopes.

Singh was initially reluctant to take the Lok Sabha route but the party prevailed in the end. He takes on the BJP's Vijay Kumar Malhotra in a contest which gives the Congress the edge in South Delhi for the first time in years. The BJP's Arun Nehru card is expected to help the party counter the Sonia effect as the Congress president plans to contest from Amethi, close to Rae Bareli.

In all, the Congress released 36 names in its second list of candidates on Tuesday, three from Delhi and 33 from Andhra Pradesh mostly renominating sitting MPs. With this, the Congress has crossed the 100 mark, having released 108 names so far. The BJP's second list has 44 names, taking its total to 183, almost half the seats it plans to contest.

The ruling party plans to release its remaining names on August 14 whilethe Congress still has some distance to travel, with more than 300 names to go. Tuesday's Congress Delhi list has Congress Working Committee (CWC) members R K Dhawan from New Delhi and Meira Kumar from Karol Bagh, both getting renominations.

The BJP renominated Power minister P R Kumaramangalam from Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu, and also gave former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Sunder Lal Patwa the Hoshangabad seat which he didn't want. Patwa was keen to enter the fray from Bhopal but infighting forced the BJP's hand. Efforts are on to persuade rebel minister Uma Bharati to contest from Khajuraho.