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        Will there be a mid-term election? It is a question that is heard all across. Sonia Gandhi and her Congress party say they are ready. But others may not be in the same position. The BJP is still to get its house in order. The UPA's allies, especially the southern ones like the DMK and the PMK, wouldn't want a poll thrust on them at this juncture. The DMK, after the rabid blabberings of its supremo on Lord Rama, finds its popularity at the lowest ebb. The PMK too is just about gathering its wits politically. At any rate, the 40/40 stunning show that the UPA (DPA) combo got in TN-Pondy last time around now seems an impossible dream. It is that cent-percent result that gave the DMK the most improbable of clouts at the Centre. Naturally it is now loath to let loose of that position of advantage. The AIADMK and the TN BJP may be more battle ready. So the message from the UPA's southern partners would most likely be no-polls-for-now.

        Elsewhere, the Left parties are looking silly and sheepish. After its dangerous brinkmanship on the nuclear deal, it cannot be seen to be climbing down. If it does then it would be a major loss of face, something that it wants to avoid desperately. That is the reason why the rattled Left loudspeakers like Sitaram Yechury, D Raja and Prakash Karat, are caught clownishly unawares by the gauntlet thrown by Sonia Gandhi during her speech in Haryana a couple of days ago. It is rather ironical and comical that while Sonia made pointed references to the Left's filibustering tactics, the Left themselves are unabashedly playing that down. The Left too, like the DMK, is not ready for the polls as it does not look like repeating its nifty performance in the last Lok Sabha elections. The Left's current loudness owes it to the freak arithmetic arraignment of this Lok Sabha. In a new election, the Left is most likely to finds its stridency turned out to mute levels.

        With so many of the parties unprepared for an election, would the Congress up the ante and go for it. The Congress is on a good wicket. Though it is too early to say whether it would come back to power. But the fact of the matter is that the party can pick and choose the most opportune moment for it to announce the contest. Sonia Gandhi, as per current indications, seems inclined to go for it. Her intriguing meeting with President Prathiba Patil adds grist to the guess mill. Sonia, by all reckoning despite her undisputed queen bee status, is politically naive. Her understanding of grassroots politics is certainly no patch on her illustrious mother-in-law, who always had a hand on the pulse of the masses. Sonia is a long way off from that. But there seems to be unquenchable desire in her to reach the gaddi. And she seems very determined and resolute now. Last time around, with the numbers not allowing for the untramelled authority she would have coveted for, Sonia made a theatrical resignation of sorts. But this time she is sure to change tack. Renunciation if repeated is boring. And at any rate, it was only a cunning stratagem to fructify a larger dream. Sonia perhaps feels that the time is now ripe for that big idea to crystallize. And the nation may face an election because of that.