Floored, Congress lines up the numbers

Even as they struggle to find a meeting ground with their estranged ally, the Trinamool Congress, party managers in the Congress are hopeful that the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government will survive the post-Mamata Banerjee era.

“The numbers remain in our favour in the current Lok Sabha. We have demonstrated this on several occasions during crucial debates,” said a senior Union minister.

Floor managers point out that even if the Samajwadi Party with its 22 MPs does not extend outside support to the UPA, it is highly unlikely that the Bahujan Samaj Party ( 21) and the RJD (4) will back out. And this is the UPA’s lifeline.

But the time till Friday afternoon given by Banerjee provides the Congress with a window of opportunity to have another shot at persuading her from taking the extreme step of withdrawing support.

Congress chief spokesperson Janardan Dwivedi continued to refer to Banerjee as the party’s valuable ally even after she told the press in Kolkata that the Trinamool was withdrawing its support.

With its top ministers having repeatedly said there was no question of any rollback on diesel price hike, the cap on LPG cylinders or the FDI in retail, the UPA has left itself with no other option but to prepare for a life without Mamata Banerjee.

Some leaders within the Congress are, however, happy that Banerjee wants to walk out of the UPA.

“The government needs to go ahead with crucial decisions, and her irrational objections have been a big stumbling block,” a party general secretary said.

Coming as it does in the midst of strong speculations about a rejig of the UPA government, this crisis also opens up the possibility of a new railways minister who could take up the reforms process from the stage where it was derailed by Banerjee during the budget session, when she got the government to remove her own party man Dinesh Trivedi after he had presented the rail budget.