New Delhi, Oct. 27: The Congress was apparently caught napping in Karnataka for the second time in less than a year.

A section of the party, including senior central functionaries from the state, believed that either the Janata Dal (Secular) would split or the Assembly would be dissolved following another major power churning.

A Dal (S)-BJP rapprochement was the last thing that counted in its calculation, except in the first report sent by a central observer just before the Karnataka Assembly was placed under suspended animation.

The report, despatched to Union home minister Shivraj Patil after H.D. Kumaraswamy called it a day with the BJP, recommended dissolution. It said the procedure of getting such a recommendation ratified by Parliament before it was enforced was not “cast in stone” but suggested as a guideline in the Supreme Court’s landmark Bommai judgment.

Some Congress sources said they were “convinced” that if the Assembly was kept alive, the BJP and Kumaraswamy would patch up to stave off a premature poll. “We could have done nothing but watch helplessly,” said a source.

But Patil reportedly disagreed with the view and was not keen on making any move that could be legally contested and drag the government and the Congress into a controversy like the ones in Bihar and Jharkhand.

It was decided that the House would not end until early December when Parliament will have to ratify the central rule promulgation.

The party was, however, undecided on its strategy. While some legislators felt it made “sense” to do business with H.D. Deve Gowda and his son and cobble together a government to avoid an election and keep the BJP at bay, the view in Delhi was that central rule (a surrogate Congress rule) was expedient.

But as former deputy chief minister M.P. Prakash made overtures to the Congress, ostensibly on Gowda’s goading, the party was caught in a bind.

Prakash met two general secretaries from Karnataka, M. Veerappa Moily and B.K. Hari Prasad, yesterday and reportedly said he was willing to strike an “understanding” with the Congress.

“He did not have the numbers for a legal and constitutional split,” Moily told The Telegraph. “That’s why we offered no commitment.”

There were reports that the Gowdas were willing to “bless” Prakash’s anointment as chief minister with the Congress’s support.

With Sonia Gandhi and Prithviraj Chavan, the general secretary in charge of Karnataka, away in China until October 29, the sources said the Congress could not be “pro-active” for want of a “signal”.

The Congress’s biggest worry was if the BJP got its first chance to rule over a southern state, it would enhance its national profile and allow “Sangh parivar affiliates” to consolidate their hold over communally sensitive Karnataka.