Indian communists debate Gandhi government coalition plan

GANDHI, on the brink of becoming India's next prime minister, was stitching together a coalition as her key communist allies debated whether to join the government and risk a supporter backlash.

Members of two communist parties huddled amid sharp differences within their "politburos" over whether to join the government or to support Mrs Gandhi's administration from the outside.

The communist bloc won 62 MPs in the 545-member parliament, its best-ever showing. Congress, which was holding its own meetings Sunday, has 145 MPs on its own and with the support of pre-election allies and the communists, comfortably crosses the 272-seat mark to form a stable government.

The communists have promised support to Mrs Gandhi, the scion of India's most famous family, and does not object that she was born in Italy which the Hindu nationalists unsuccessfully tried to make an issue in the campaign.

But Congress and the communists are direct opponents in the Indian left's two state bastions, eastern West Bengal and southern Kerala, and in north-eastern Tripura.

Senior communist leaders are reported to view joining the government as a historic opportunity to wield influence. They say the communists, by joining the national government, could push for an economic agenda that favours the poor, even if they stop short of calling for a complete end to the privatisation drive of outgoing prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

But other communists say the bloc could wield greater influence by being crucial support for a Congress-led government without taking part in the messy business of government.