Gandhi’s Party Seeks More Time for Backing
India’s Congress party, thwarted in its bid to form a minority government, sought more time Friday to win key support from a clutch of regional and communist parties.
Four parties from a patchwork of regional, caste-based and leftist groups on which Sonia Gandhi’s Congress was relying, would not declare their support.
Gandhi said after meeting President K.R. Narayanan that she would hold more talks with all political groups that closed ranks to topple Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s government last weekend.
The Italian-born Congress chief said she had submitted a list of 233 lawmakers committed to supporting her government, far short of the 272 required for a simple majority in India’s 543-member lower house of Parliament.
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