Congress now woos SP, BSP

With its threat-a-day routine, the Trinamool Congress has pushed the Manmohan Singh government into opening a dialogue with two major political entities from Uttar Pradesh - the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party. It is learnt that with growing uncertainty in its relationship with Mamata Banerjee and her team of MPs, the Congress is preparing for the worst and putting together the necessary numbers so as not to be surprised in either house of Parliament.

At the gallantry awards investiture ceremony in Rashtrapati Bhavan, the prime minister told reporters on Wednesday evening that his government was “stable”. And he was not without reason to make that claim because the government has already got positive indications after it approached SP (22 MPs) and BSP (21 MPs). Sources said the conversation was going on at two levels - at the highest level and also at the level initiated by floor managers in both Houses of Parliament.

There was some tension last afternoon after the TMC moved amendments to the Presidential speech debate. The government doesn’t fall if it loses during headcount in that vote but definitely suffers embarrassment. Subsequently, those amendments have not been admitted but there is no guarantee given the fluid political situation in the capital that the TMC wouldn’t vote against the government along with the NDA.

As a result, no stone is being left unturned. Apparently Shakeel Ahmed, the Congress leader in charge of Bengal, has reassured his party leadership in Delhi that Mamata might blow hot and cold but she wouldn’t bring down the government. She cannot be seen as voting out a secular regime. If she does that, the Left would raise that issue in an electoral campaign at a time when Mamata is feeling confident of receiving the high percentage of minority vote in West Bengal.

Nevertheless, Congress party sources said they were not going to take a chance given the volatile nature of the alliance. The SP and BSP may have the occasional hostile stance vis-a-vis the Congress at the Centre but if it comes to a vote both entities have their own interests in bailing out the Congress either through positive voting or through abstentions.

But the sources say that there was no question of dumping Mamata despite her tantrums till the Presidential polls were over. The government needs help from every quarter if it wants its candidate to sail through. They are aware that the BJP-led NDA would like to impose its own candidate as the next occupant of Rashtrapati Bhavan and it might turn out to be a close contest. SP, with its good performance in the recent UP assembly polls, has become numerically powerful and needs to be courted for the Presidential election.