With just three days to go for the results of election 2009, the focus of political activity has shifted to New Delhi.
With just three days to go for the results of election 2009, the focus of political activity has shifted to New Delhi with famous addresses receiving unexpected visitors.
Prime minister Manmohan Singh’s engagements on Wednesday caused a ripple with industrialist Anil Ambani meeting him hours before corporate affairs minister PC Gupta.
The meetings fuelled speculation though the prime minister’s office dismissed reports of any political undertones to them. The PMO also denied that Ambani’s meeting had anything to do with any “unfinished agenda” in the last days of the UPA government.
“It was a 15-minute meeting,” a PMO official said. “Mr Ambani sought it as a private individual and industrialist. There is no connection between this meeting and that with Gupta.”
The PM’s meeting with Gupta was explained away as a longstanding appointment to update him on the Satyam fraud. “There was nothing political about this either,” said the PMO official.
But with Lalu Prasad’s RJD upset with Rahul Gandhi’s praise for rivals like Nitish Kumar, sources said this was a way of reaching out to the party. Gupta is a member of the RJD.
A report suggested that Anil Ambani called on Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh before meeting the PM. At the same time, elder brother Mukesh Ambani is believed to have met Gupta and Ahmed Patel, political adviser to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.
Gandhi did her own bit to mend fences with erstwhile allies. She called up Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan, her neighbour on Janpath, after a portion of his house caught fire on Wednesday morning. Sure enough, Paswan declared by afternoon that he was still with the UPA.
NCP leader PA Sangma visited Janata Dal (United) leader Sharad Yadav’s house to rediscover old Socialist links. “Sangma is an old friend,” Yadav said later. Clearly, meeting season is on with the curtains falling on an election that will probably be decided by negotiation.
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