New Delhi, May 11: The Congress’ expectations in the run-up to Thursday’s announcement of election results have soared following its Assembly poll landslide in Andhra Pradesh.

Riding the crest of the Andhra wave, the party thinks it might best the ruling National Democratic Alliance at the Centre and be in with a chance to form a government headed by Sonia Gandhi.

“The unexpectedly huge scale of victory in the Andhra Assembly polls is prompting us to believe that the trend could be the same for the Lok Sabha results in the state and elsewhere in the country. Hereon, we and our allies should be in a position to form the next government at the Centre,” a senior Congress functionary said this evening.

The Congress leader’s upbeat assessment followed a meeting of the apex strategy committee, held at the party chief’s residence late this evening. The meeting was presided by Sonia even though the committee is headed by Manmohan Singh.

Reflecting the party mood, the functionary, who is also a member of the apex body, said the Telugu Desam Party-BJP combine’s rout in Andhra could not be explained just in terms of an anti-incumbency wave.

“In our assessment, the result could also be reflective of an anti-NDA mood among the voters,” he said.

As such, the Congress does not expect the TDP-BJP combine to win more than 7 or 8 out of Andhra’s 42 Lok Sabha seats when results come in on Thursday. Pointing out that this figure is lower than the pollsters’ worst-case projections for the NDA, party leaders hope the ruling alliance will fare worse than expected in other states as well.

Realising she may be in with a chance to stake a claim to form the next government, Sonia has reportedly taken direct charge of contacting allies and potential partners to firm up strategy and mobilise support. The Congress realises that it must keep these parties in its camp and not allow the NDA to wean them away.

The party’s optimism was reflected in the words of senior party general secretary Ambika Soni who said: “(The) BJP-led NDA has lost its moral right to govern the country.” She said the next government would be Congress-led.

Even though party leaders are adamant that the Congress is “not looking beyond Sonia’s name”, Soni avoided naming the party chief as the sole candidate for Prime Ministership.

However, her colleagues say all negotiations with allies will centre on forming a Sonia-led government. “Why should we think of any other candidate when all of our allies, including the Left parties, have no problem with Sonia’s leadership,” they say.

But the Congress is taking care not to go public in order to conduct successful talks with its allies, current and potential.

Briefing reporters ahead of the strategy committee meeting, Soni described the Andhra verdict as a “three-in-one victory for the party.”

First, people have rejected TDP chief . Chandrababu Naidu’s regime. The chief minister had been NDA’s poster boy and the face of its India Shining and Feel Good campaign, she said.

Second, the verdict is a slap on BJP chief M. Venkaiah Naidu’s face for he had been claiming victory in Andhra.

Third and most important, said Soni, it is a clear rejection of the NDA’s individual-oriented campaign in which Atal Bihari Vajpayee had been presented as the alliance’s brand personality.