Chances of reconciliation between UPA and TMC dim

Prospects of a rapprochement between the UPA and Trinamool Congress which has announced that it will quit the ruling coalition on Friday receded today with the Government categorically ruling out any rollback of its decisions on FDI, diesel and LPG cylinders.

Actually, Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who had dramatically announced yesterday that her six ministers would resign from the Manmohan Singh Government on Friday and she will no longer support the Government, stepped up her attack on the Congress party.

"I will stick to my position, come what may...the (TMC) ministers will tender their resignations," she said adding there will be no compromise on people's issue like FDI in retail.

Rejecting Finance Minister P Chidambaram's statement in Delhi this morning, Banerjee said that nobody from Delhi contacted her before or after the Centre took the decisions to hike diesel price, cap supply of subsidised cylinders and allow FDI in retail.

"Minimum 24 cylinders should be given to a family in a year. How many times you will keep raising the petroleum prices? FDI in retail should be withdrawn," she said in Kolkata.

After a meeting of Group of Ministers on media, Chidambaram told reporters "I don't know why you guys are hung up on that one word rollback. These issues (decisions) were taken after the most careful consideration. They stand."

In Ahmedabad, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma said the Government does not believe in rollback as decisions were made after much deliberations.

With the parting of ways looking nearly certain, the Manmohan Singh Government will have to look for support from two key outside supporters Samajwadi Party (22 MPs) and BSP (21 MPs).

If Trinamool goes ahead with its decision, UPA's strength will come down to 254, 19 short of majority in Lok Sabha, but with the support of outside allies like SP, BSP, JD (S) and RJD it still has the backing of over 300 MPs in a House of 545.

The Samajwadi Party was not making it easier for the UPA with its chief Mulayam Singh Yadav saying its parliamentary board will meet tomorrow to decide its strategy. But his brother and MP Ram Gopal Yadav later said there was no such meeting.

A new element in the high-voltage political scenario was Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's statement that his party JD (U) will support any party at the Centre which will give special status for his state.

He has been asking for special status to Bihar in view of its backwardness but his statement has intrigued political circles which were wondering whether he was willing to do political deal with UPA.