Former prime minister V.P. Singh and the CPI(M) have opened channels of communication with the NDA allies. Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu is also talking separately to Karunanidhi. He may not want to bring down the Vajpayee government but he knows that politics in the era of coalitions is the art of the possible. With 29 MPs, the TDP (never formally part of the NDA but practically an ally of the Vajpayee government) is the big brother of the NDA Family, bar the bjp. And big brother has proved smarter than little sister (who has just eight MPs) in handling the bjp once it raised the Ayodhya issue. Even as the issue was debated in the Rajya Sabha (where the nda is In a minority) on December 18 and put to vote the next day, the tdp played hardball with the government.