Forget the numbers, never have the letters meant so much to Manmohan Singh, his party, and government. I mean letters of the alphabet, not letters of support- but I guess that too, as its really down to the MNF, and the NPF, not to mention the BPN, the NLP, and the SDF to save the government- especially if the AIMIM and the MLKSC decide to vote against it.

Each of those letter groupings represent one or more of a commodity more precious than crude right now, a parliament seat, and surprisingly our PhD-PM seems to have been a little tardy in Alphabet-soup class. The exam is nearly here, and he and Mrs. Gandhi must be wishing they had studied a little harder, a little earlier.

They could have asked anyone who has appeared for the Indian Cramming Studies Exercise, and they'd tell you, the answer is a Kunji- so here's the rapidex version of what they needed to know about the men they're trying to woo.

There's the Samajwadi Party- enough has been said about those that Sonia and the PM banished from their victory dinner party in 2004, which are now holding centre-stage in saving the government. But lets go back further than that - to 1999, when Sonia Gandhi actually went to the "tea party" with them, and decided to bring down the BJP, but um.... forgot to mention that SP wouldn't actually be joining the government themselves. No third front, no fourth front, she said, at Rashtrapati Bhawan, I have 272 and more are coming. Actually less were. Wonder if they've forgotten those words, or if Mrs. Gandhi has forgotten the words of Mr. Amar Singh recorded on CD in subsequent years.

There's Ajit Singh, the man whose father's 3-month-old government was brought down when the other Mrs. G pulled support from it 30 years ago. Now with a mere 3 MPs he holds the government and this Mrs. G in the palm of his hand. Ignored for years by this government- he is now in line to continue the Kisan legacy if he now takes the Panchayati Raj portfolio.

Did we mention 'Guruji' Shibu Soren.... 15 years has seen a full circle for him- and he is once more in the position of saving the government with his flock of 5 MPs (its was 4 then). Lets also remember that it was the PM who had coldly asked Soren to turn in his key to the Cabinet washroom when he was being led away to jail six months ago. Now anything at all is on offer a Guru-dakshina- from First Class A/C berths to Chief Ministership to Cabinet berths.

In fact, it's the birth of a whole new low in a coalitional commerce.

The PM's economics has never been in doubt, so he must be able to calculate the rate of inflation on this one- in 1993, the charge was that MPs were offered 50 Lakhs apiece for their vote. Today, the rate publicly announced is between 15 to 25 crores!

There's Deve Gowda, the former PM who the Congress pulled support from in 1996- and in recent years has had an on-again off-again relationship at the state. Two years ago, Sonia had him waiting a whole month for an appointment, today he keeps her and the PM waiting as he decides arrives in the capital ahead of the vote.

Are we done with the history lessons? No wait, there was another Central government the Congress pulled support from. The reason for its withdrawal from the Gujral government was the United Front's tie-up with 'parties that sympathised with the LTTE', like the DMK, the MDMK, the PMK. Today they're saying IaMoK and URoK to them.

And Omar Abdullah- how could we forget the National Conference who has been snubbed time and again. Ironically it was their MP, Saifuddin Soz who brought the NDA government down by one vote in April 1999 and crossed over to the Congress. And lets not forget the often snubbed and the now-sought after Mamata Banerjee too.

I could go on, but you get the point. Why is it that it has taken this long for the Congress to realise it needs to keep its friends close, enemies closer, and to never be high handed with potential allies? Why has it come to this- where the UPA is in parliamentary ICU, depending on blood donations from those it has never felt the need to be even civil with in the past?

Why is it that statesmanship and floor management is a dying art while pressure politics and deal making flourishes? If this vote was about the nuclear deal, one the government says as in national interest, why didn't the Prime Minister make any effort for national consensus before this? From July 2005, when the deal was announced, to July 2007, when the 1-2-3 was frozen, to July 2008, when his government may yet go on the issue, why has he not reached out to one member of the NDA, with an olive branch, not a fait accompli? And why are Mrs. Gandhi and Master Gandhi making the pitch to the nation for a "nuclear revolution" that will light up all villages now and never before?

From Indira Gandhi to Narasimha Rao to the 4 third front PMs to Mr. Vajpayee, our fractured polity has had one positive tradition- that governments are able to take the opposition along with them when it comes to larger foreign policy and strategic issues- from the 1971 war, to Pokhran I and II to Kargil, the India-Pakistan peace process, Non-Alignment, the CTBT and beyond. While the government is now crying foul at the BJP for its quite obvious flip-flop on support for the nuclear deal, it may want to look at its own refusal to give the BJP any credit for thinking it up in the first place.

You can be weak at all the schoolroom classes, but in this game, if you are weak at history, you end up flunking the math. And that, is the 1-2-3 of Indian politics.