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NEW DELHI: The Indian government was scouring for support Monday, trying to shore up its position a day before a no-confidence vote in parliament triggered by a controversial nuclear deal with Washington.
The government will collapse and early elections will be called if the coalition of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh loses on Tuesday, and experts say the vote in the 543-seat parliament is too close to call.
Singh's allies and the opposition have been battling to woo even tiny parties with just a handful of votes, with the outcome likely to be determined by only the smallest of margins.
The race is so tight, and the stakes are so high, that the government is letting six MPs serving jail terms out to vote. Meanwhile the opposition is paying for charter flights to bring in ailing lawmakers.
"The vote will be a close thing, as the smaller parties who hold the key may not back the prime minister," said political analyst Mahesh Rangarajan. "One should not be surprised if the government falls by a few votes."
Singh stirred up popular anger by signing a nuclear accord with the United States which his government insists is essential to meet the energy needs of India's fast-growing economy and its one billion people.
India, which tested nuclear weapons in 1974 and 1998 and refuses to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, is currently barred from buying nuclear technology and fuel.
The deal would allow such purchases but subject India's civilian nuclear sites under international controls - which are aimed at ensuring that any purchases are not diverted for military uses.
But opponents say the deal would bring traditionally non-aligned India too close to the United States. If the government collapses, the nuclear accord would almost certainly be put on hold.
The deal was signed in 2005 but has not been ratified because of the uproar, and the opposition believes it can capitalise on that anger - and frustration over the economy -- to win a general election.
If every Member of Parliament casts a ballot on Tuesday, the government will need 272 votes to survive. If it loses, polls will take place by January at the latest.
The coalition, headed by the Congress party of Sonia Gandhi, maintains it has the support of 290 MPs and that it can see through its last year in office.
But opposition parties, including the left and the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), are equally confident, and have alleged that the government is offering substantial bribes to MPs sitting on the fence.
The leader of the Communist Party of India, A.B. Bardhan, last week publicly accused the government of putting together a war chest for political "horse-trading" containing millions of dollars in bribe money.
"No one has principles any more," Bardhan said.
The communists and BJP have also been speaking out against rising food and fuel prices - inflation is currently around 12 per cent - and arguing that hundreds of millions of poor have been left behind by India's economic boom.
- AFP/yb
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