New Delhi, March 15: The Congress is seeking to repair ties with the Samajwadi Party and is keen to keep the railway pot simmering in order to prolong Mamata Banerjee's public relations agony, though it is resigned to accepting her diktat to replace Dinesh Trivedi.
Sources said the idea of inviting the Samajwadi Party to join the UPA government ' widely speculated over the past few weeks ' was discussed at last night's Congress core committee meeting and it was decided to explore the possibility without wasting time.
Sonia Gandhi today sent a letter to Mulayam Singh Yadav, regretting her inability to attend the swearing-in ceremony in Lucknow and wishing his son Akhilesh Yadav success as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.
Sonia said in her letter that she wanted to attend the ceremony but was tied down by political engagements and parliamentary proceedings and hence was sending two senior leaders to represent her. Motilal Vora and Pawan Bansal were chosen by Sonia to attend the event and were flown to Lucknow by a chartered plane.
While Bansal is the parliamentary affairs minister, who has the responsibility to manage numbers in both the Houses, Vora is a member of Sonia's inner coterie who developed a rapport with Mulayam Singh during his stint as Uttar Pradesh governor.
Although Congress leaders contended that sending these leaders to Lucknow was part of normal courtesy, they conceded the majority in the party favoured strengthening the UPA by inducting the Samajwadi Party into the government.
Although it won't be an easy decision as Rahul Gandhi would like to reclaim the political space in Uttar Pradesh, at least in the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress leadership has decided to at least send out a message that they valued Mulayam Singh as a leader and wanted to work with understanding and co-operation.
The Congress has to do business with Mulayam Singh even in selecting the next President and Vice-President. Speculation has surfaced about Mulayam Singh's brother Ram Gopal Yadav being given the deputy chairman's post in the Rajya Sabha.
The Samajwadi Party, too, is sending positive vibes. While party chief whip Shailendra Kumar yesterday said in the Lok Sabha that the UPA government would run its full term, Ram Gopal today asserted there was no threat to the stability at the Centre.
But a section in the Samajwadi Party believes it should not identify itself too closely with the UPA ' as it did in 2008 during the nuclear deal stand-off and suffered a setback in the 2009 general election in which the Congress gained.
Bansal today sought to rubbish suggestions of an impending crisis, saying there was no worry on the number front. He is also in touch with the BSP, which has assured full co-operation.
Congress managers claimed they were in a position to pass bills and tide the government over cut motions on money bills. But they rejected the possibility of forcing Trinamul out of the ruling combine, insisting that enhancing the comfort level for the government should not be seen as a negative gesture. "We want Trinamul to be with us but we can't ignore the threats to our survival," a minister said.
Congress leaders have not appreciated Mamata's belligerence. One Congress general secretary went to the extent of describing Mamata's response as "apolitical", adding that "nobody should allow personal emotions to override institutional responsibilities".
The Prime Minister is said to have expressed a deep sense of anguish at the Congress core committee meeting and pointed out that inducting a new railway minister mid-session would be an oddity.
The Congress is still hoping to convince Mamata that Trivedi should be replaced only in the recess, which begins from March 31. But Trinamul is insisting on action by the weekend. Even if Trivedi has to be dropped after the general budget, the ministers of state for railways could be asked to handle the job of passing the rail budget.
Singh's reply to the motion of thanks to the President's address, scheduled for this evening, has been postponed as the Trivedi controversy could have clouded the event.
The Prime Minister did not want to give any commitment on the continuance or resignation of Trivedi at this stage and would now reply on Monday. Singh is expected to talk to Mamata after the budget is presented tomorrow, preferably on Saturday or Sunday.
The Congress will not confront Mamata on the question of Trivedi's continuance but the delay in accepting her wish is well planned. While the government does not want to be seen as capitulating in panic, Congress leaders feel that this controversy is causing irreparable damage to Mamata's image and there is no need to draw curtains over the drama in a hurry.
The government today said "one communication" had been received from Mamata and it was under "active consideration".
"The government has not yet taken any action on it. As and when the government will take action, the House will be informed," Pranab Mukherjee told the Lok Sabha.
On whether Trivedi had resigned, Mukherjee said the Prime Minister has "not received any resignation letter from the railway minister.... I am saying that the railway minister has not resigned."
Source:
http://in.news.yahoo.com/sonia-writes-mulayam-214421378.html
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