Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=05/14/04

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=INDIA/POLITICS (L-Only)

NUMBER=2-315913

BYLINE=ANJANA PASRICHA

DATELINE=NEW DELHI

INTERNET=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: In India, the Congress Party that emerged victorious in recent parliamentary elections has begun to put together a new coalition government. Anjana Pasricha reports, the party is also building a consensus with its political allies on choosing the country's next prime minister, who could be the Italian-born leader of the party, Sonia Gandhi.

TEXT: A day after the election results were announced, Congress Party leaders were pitching their leader, Sonia Gandhi for the country's top job. Congress General Secretary Oscar Fernandez told reporters that the party's political allies were giving Congress the right to decide who the leaders should be.

Since the Congress Party's victory, Mrs. Gandhi has refused to say if she wants to be prime minister. Mrs. Gandhi is the Italian-born widow of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. The party did not name a candidate for the prime minister's post before the elections, saying they would choose one after the polls.

In a meeting planned for Saturday, party members newly elected to parliament will do just that, and whoever wins the nomination will likely be the country's next prime minister. The Congress Party, along with its allies, holds about 219 seats in the new parliament, and will need the support of several groups to achieve a parliamentary majority.

The Congress Party is also holding meetings with political allies to shape the next government. A party spokesman, Abhishek Singhvi, says his party wants to include as many political groups as possible, within a Congress-led government.

/// SINGHVI ACT ///

It is very much in the interests of the entire group, which has got the mandate, to form the largest, most comprehensive, rainbow government. It is toward that end that we are working.

/// END ACT ///

The Congress Party also has to work out common policies to govern the country with its allies. Left-leaning parties that will provide crucial support to the Congress-led government indicated Friday they were not opposed to all economic reforms, but would reconsider steps, such as the privatization of state-owned industries, begun by the previous government.

Their statement sent stock markets plunging by as much as six percent.

Meanwhile, the leader of the outgoing Bharatiya Janata Party, Venkeya Naidu, says his party's defeat was a shock.

/// NAIDU ACT ///

Media, our opponents, our supporters, even non-political people, nobody has expected this results.

/// END ACT ///

The Congress Party is returning to govern India after eight years, but, this time, it must share power with its political allies. The election marks the return of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty that ruled India for more than four decades, since the country's independence. (SIGNED)

NEB/AP/HK/TW/RH