NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The prospect of snap elections loomed in India on Sunday after the Congress party appeared to have failed in its bid to woo allies to form a new government. But it remained unclear whether President K.R. Narayanan would still try and avert the country's second election in less than two years by asking the Congress party or the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to try to rule. Narayanan began intensive consultations with constitutional experts on Saturday after the United Front coalition government fell. He was due to meet leaders of the BJP late on Sunday and leaders of the Congress party and United Front the following day before making a final decision. The 15-party minority government resigned after Congress withdrew its support on Friday. The Congress move was triggered by the United Front's repeated refused to expel a regional party linked by a report to the 1991 assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. Congress stepped quickly into the breach after the United Front was appointed as a caretaker government, staking a claim to power. Neither Congress, with 138 deputies, nor the BJP, with 162, can win a vote of confidence without support from other groups in the 545-seat Lok Sabha, or lower house of parliament. But the Congress party, which ruled India for all but five of its 50 years of independence, made little headway as it scoured the political landscape for allies on Saturday. The BJP, which ruled for 12 days after inconclusive elections 18 months ago, has not staked a claim to power. However, it has made no secret of its hopes to be asked to form a government and has been scathing in its criticism of the Congress party's ambitions. The BJP rose from obscurity in the late 1980s by demanding the demolition of a controversial Moslem mosque in the city of Ayodhya. Since the mosque was razed in 1992, it has become more of a secular force, but still has many bitter opponents.