New Delhi: In the backdrop of exit poll results showing Congress making healthy gains after the final round of Lok Sabha polling, the party tonight (May 10, 2004) said it was in touch with its allies on the formation of a "stable" Government led by it.

After an hour-long meeting of the party's strategy committee in New Delhi, Congress spokesman Anand Sharma told reporters that a non-NDA (National Democratic Alliance) secular and stable Government headed by Congress was inevitable.

"After the fourth round of voting, it is clear that people of India have decisively rejected the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Government....Our assessment is that NDA is not getting majority," he said adding "in this situation formation of a Congress-led secular and stable alternative is inevitable".

Sharma said the committee felt that "in the absence of mandate, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has no moral right to stake claim for the formation of a Government."