From Jal Khambata NEW DELHI: On a day when Congress President Sonia Gandhi shed all inhibitions to venture out of 10 Janpath to canvass support for herself, the anti-BJP opposition unity suffered a serious setback as parties got angry at the Congress trying to "hijack" the new government, keeping everybody out. A list of the likely Ministers allegedly circulated at the instance of Congress strategist Arjun Singh added fuel to fire as all names are from Congress alone like he himself as the home minister, Natwar Singh as foreign minister, Pranab Mukherjee as Finance Minister, Sharad Pawar as the defence minister besides other names like P Shiv Shankar, P A Sangma, Kamal Nath, Rajesh Pilot, Jaffer Sharief, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ahmed Patel. Both sides were getting ready on Tuesday with letters of support to fight out the battle of supremacy in the President's court -- the ousted Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) claiming "our supporting letters from all pre-poll allies except AIADMK are ready" and Congress spokesman Arjun Singh stating that "letters of support are coming in but not yet from all since some have gone out." Arjun Singh's reference was clearly at Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav who slipped out to Lucknow and asserted at a Press conference there that the Congress cannot decide the new Prime Minister as that exercise has to be done by all parties by sitting together. The BJP and allies, on second thought, decided to submit to President K R Narayanan the letters of support on Wednesday and leave it up to him whether to wait for similar letters from the Congress and company or not. "Three days have past and the Congress has not been able to muster the support and hence we decided to go to the President and end the uncertainty," a senior BJP leader said after meeting at the Prime Minister's residence. ONLY SONIA: It all became clear on Tuesday that Sonia Gandhi and nobody else is the Congress candidate for the Prime Ministership. The cat was out of the bag when Telugu Desam Party MP S Vijayarama Raju defected and announced at the AICC briefing that he would vote for Sonia Gandhi in the Lok Sabha and Arjun Singh did not contradict his contention of Sonia Gandhi to be the PM. However, when asked specifically, Arjun Singh quipped: "There are some doubting Thomases but the Congress President has herself now clarified everything." (A clever Raju has not resigned from the TDP lest he gets disqualified under the anti-defection law as he said in a signed statement that "while remaining in the Telugu Desam Party, I shall endeavour to persuade my colleagues to ponder over the current political situation and support the leadership of Smt Sonia Gandhi. If the TDP expells him, he does not attract the disqualification, said Congress MP P Upendra, a former TDP convert who masterminded his defection.) The BJP and allies had yet another coordination committee meeting Tuesday evening to review own numbers and BJP Vice-President Krishnalal Sharma said there was "no need to go to the President now" with the fresh supporting letters but only when he finishes other options. NOTHING BEFORE THURSDAY: Arjun Singh, however, hinted that the time for formation of the new government would come "only after the Budget is passed on 22nd (by the Rajya Sabha)." He had nothing more to add to what Sonia Gandhi told reporters after meeting CPI-M octogenarian father-figure and West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu in the Bang Bhawan here that "we are still talking and working towards evolving a consensus." Sonia Gandhi also ended all speculation about the Congress backing Jyoti Basu to head the government in the event of no consensus of all necessary to muster the majority as she quipped: "He has himself rejected the idea." She also went in the morning to the residence of former Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral, leading to speculation if she wants to prop up him to head the government, which was quickly denied by the party. When Arjun Singh was asked if he would welcome Jayalalitha's remarks after meeting Jyoti Basu on Monday that she would be happy if he became the PM, he shot back: "Mere welcome karne se kya matlab hoga?"(What use my welcoming). He was apparently referring to Sonia Gandhi's remarks in this regard. The Left Front will be holding yet another meeting on Wednesday to bring around RSP and Forward Block who have steadfast refused to support any government led by the Congress. JAYA, MULAYAM ANGRY: The Congress attempt to secure letters of support from all those parties that voted out the Vajpayee Government on the confidence motion instead of consultations for a coalition government has, however, backfired as it added an element of suspicion in the minds of the parties, more so after a word spread that Congress will not take Mulayam Singh Yadav or anybody from his Samajwadi Party in its proposed alternative government. AIADMK supremo J Jayalalitha, whose withdrawal of support led to the Vajpayee Government's fall, has already given a letter of outside support to Sonia Gandhi, but the crafty letter got a statement issued by Arvind Chaturvedi, general secretary of Dr Subramanian Swamy's Janata Party, on Tueday, expressing surprise over "the attempts by some Congressmen to hijack the new Government to suit their vested interests." There were no doubts left in the statement that Chaturvedi was hinting at none else but Arjun Singh as the statement said "no leader who has been defeated in the last Lok Sabha elections should be considered for being made a Cabinet Minister, let it bring ridicule on the new government." Arjun Singh had lost the last Lok Sabha election. "It is a matter of surprise that just when leaders of secular parties are discussing Government formation, a senior Congress leader should circulate in advance a list of Cabinet Ministers." Mulayam Singh Yadav got angry with the Congress and in particular with Arjun Singh when Jayalalitha told him during their meeting Monday evening that Sonia Gandhi has difficulty in accommodating him in the Cabinet because of certain compulsions. Mulayam, however, met Sonia Gandhi subsequently Monday night, but reportedly found that the lady was completely under the spell of Arjun Singh and would not even try to understand his suggestion that she can play a role in bringing Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi Party and Congress together to pull down the BJP Government in Uttar Pradesh also. CRIMINAL SCARE: Sonia Gandhi had reportedly confided in Jayalalitha that she has reports that eight of the 20 MPs of Mulayam's Samajwadi Party have criminal background and as such she would not be able to accommodate him or his partymen and suffer the public ridicule. Jayalalitha wanted evidence which Sonia got sent to her on Tuesday through Arjun Singh. Though Arjun Singh did not disclose what he delivered to Jayalalitha in her Maurya hotel suite, he said only to avoid unnecessary speculation he would like to state that he met her "to hand over to her some information which she had asked from the Congress President which was not available immediately at that time with her." The documents given to her include a detailed note prepared by Uttar Pradesh PCC chief Salman Khurshid for Sonia Gandhi on why the Congress should not have any kind of arrangement with Mulayam. The AIADMK sources said Jayalalitha's letter of support was only a formality as she has insisted in her private talks with Sonia Gandhi that all should participate in the Government and the Congress should not make anybody "untouchable." Sonia Gandhi has frankly told Jayalalitha the advice to her from Arjun Singh that there should be only a Congress government and all those who want to keep the BJP and the elections at bay should extend their support. CONSULTATIONS GALORE: Jyoti Basu sensed the differences cropping among the friendly parties after what all he heard from Sonia Gandhi who called on him around 12.30. He subsequently drove down to Hotel Maurya Shereton at 4 PM and expressed his misgivings to Jayalalitha. Both were in discussion for 45 minutes. Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Laloo Prasad Yadav was visiting 10 Jan Path around the same time to confer with Sonia Gandhi as he also became panicky at getting hints from Mulayam that the Congress was playing games with him. CPI(M) General Secretary Harkishen Singh Surjit had called on Laloo in the morning. Dr Subramanian Swamy also had a meeting with Laloo. MORE DEFECTIONS: Meanwhile, the Congress managers are busy trying to engineer defections from the allies of the BJP even as BJP Vice-President Krishna Lal Sharma tells reporters that the Congress was caught into own difficulties and hence it was now indulging in "rumour mongering of splits in our allies. The first defection of TDP MP Raju of Parvathipuram (Andhra) on Tueday was, however, the first in what may continue to be the exercise over the next two, three days to increase the Congress support as an insider said two MPs of the Lok Shakti of Karnataka are likely to defect on Wedneday. They include Ajay Kumar Sarnaik of Balgalkot (Karnataka) who was earlier Sports Minister in the Patel Government. The other name could not be ascertained. Sonia Gandhi has also deputed four top leaders, including Arjun Singh and Sharad Pawar, to continue negotiations with other parties to secure their support. Pawar is reported to have obtained supporting letters from seven single MPs until Tuesday evening. CONG SUPPORT: Arjun Singh just refused to reply to questions on reservations of some parties like RSP and Forward Block in backing a Congress government and how his party plans to win the confidence vote. "Confidence mat aaj hai, kal hai ya parso. (confidence vote is today, tomorrow or day after.) Neither you know nor I know. But the day the confidence motion comes, we will prove our majority." He, however, made it clear that the Congress was not canvassing for support from DMK. "We had no contacts with DMK," he asserted. Asked how soon he expect the "migratory birds" land on the Congress terrain to give it the requisit majority, he shot back in the same vein: "Migratory birds come in certain season. As soon as the season of vote arrives, they will arrive." BJP DENIAL: Meanwhile, BJP President Kushabhau Thakre issued a statement stoutly denying a report in an English daily that the "Parivar hawks moot plan to dump Vajpayee" and let Advani take the leadership if and when the President may again call the party to form another government. He asserted that everybody was today under the leadership of Vajpayee and that "the allies of the BJP have also individually reiterated their faith in Shri Vajpayee's leadership." "The entire BJP and all our pre-poll allies stand like a rock strongly behind Vajpayee," BJP Vice-President Sharma said while asserting that the TDP would re-affirm its issue-based support the moment the BJP forms another government. END. ------------------------