The race for India's top job: contenders and key players

New Delhi - Who will be India's next prime minister? With general elections days away, analysts predicted yet another hung Parliament in which smaller parties could call the shots and anyone could be kingmaker and any kingmaker could be king. There seems to be no clear majority in sight for any single party or for the two main coalitions - the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and the opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA). In such a scenario, a leader with the backing of several political parties with a combined strength of 270 members in the 545-member Lok Sabha, or lower house of Parliament, could become the next prime minister. The two main contenders are incumbent Manmohan Singh, 76, of the Indian National Congress party, which leads the UPA, and Lal Krishna Advani, 81, of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which leads the NDA. If Congress scores well in the elections, its chief, Italian-born Sonia Gandhi, 62, would be a natural choice for the top job. She is the Congress party's most popular face and, as UPA chairwoman, managed to keep the alliance together for five years. But the widow of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi refused the premier's post after the 2004 elections amid concerns about her foreign origin and has said she is not in the running in 2009. Critics said she is grooming her son Rahul, 39, as a future premier. Sonia Gandhi's stated choice for the current elections is Singh, an experienced economist and a competent bureaucrat. Singh's biggest strength is his reputation for honesty and integrity. But he underwent heart-bypass surgery recently and is not in the pink of health. Critics call mild-mannered Singh weak and Sonia Gandhi's puppet. But Singh did push through a landmark civilian nuclear agreement with the United States in the face of strong opposition from leftist partners who withdrew support from the UPA and threatened to topple his government. Singh's main rival, Advani, is an experienced politician who has been India's interior minister and deputy prime minister. He is seen as a tough administrator who has promised strong measures on internal security, a major issue in the elections in light of a spate of terrorist attacks over the past two years. Advani is credited with a major role in the rise of the BJP as a political force in India, partly through his campaign to build a controversial temple to the Hindu god Ram in the northern town of Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh at the spot where the medieval Babri mosque once stood. The mosque was pulled down by Hindu zealots in 1992, soon after Advani led a countrywide campaign on building the temple. The mosque's destruction sparked widespread, deadly communal riots. Advani has been trying to play down his Hindu hardline image, but his political allies who were more comfortable with the moderate figure of former BJP prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee are wary. Another major player in the 2009 elections is Mayawati, 53, the three-term chief minister of the politically important state of Uttar Pradesh. Her Bahujan Samaj Party represents the aspirations of the Dalit community, the former 'untouchables,' who form the lowest rung of India's archaic caste system. Dalits form a sizeable constituency but have otherwise had little say in politics and policies despite decades of affirmative action. For them, Mayawati is a symbol of hope and power. Mayawati has recruited support from upper caste Brahmins and Muslims to broaden her base and has made her prime ministerial ambitions very clear. She is hoping a bloc of non-Congress, non-BJP parties would support her bid if she manages to win a majority of the 80 parliamentary seats in Uttar Pradesh. Known as a pragmatist and performer but also authoritarian and criticized for amassing vast personal wealth, Mayawati might not find it easy to garner the support of other parties after the elections. But even if she does not get the top job, Mayawati is hoping to be a kingmaker as are regional players like the Samajwadi Party's Mulayam Singh, 70, also from Uttar Pradesh; Jayalalitha, 61, an actress turned politician from the southern state of Tamil Nadu; and Chandrababu Naidu, 59, of Andhra Pradesh in India's south-east. An alliance of four leftist parties is hoping it would return enough numbers to influence the choice of the country's next government and leader. Leaders of smaller parties that are part of the UPA and NDA have hinted that they would not be averse to breaking away from their current coalitions to join new ones if they are promised the top job. Foremost among them is Sharad Pawar, a powerful politician from Maharashtra who is a minister in the UPA government and also chief of India's wealthy cricket board. Pawar broke away from the Congress party when Sonia Gandhi became its leader in 1999 and formed the Nationalist Congress Party. There is also the possibility of a dark horse emerging from post-poll coalitions: a prime minister who is chosen not because his or her party led in the elections but because he or she is the least controversial, ruffles fewer feathers and could be a consensus candidate of several parties. In a recent precedent, Deve Gowda became prime minister in 1996 although his Janata Dal party had only 46 seats in the lower house.