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.