07-02-2008, 01:29 AM
<b>N-deal to power new alignment </b>
Sun, 29 Jun, 2008,02:52 PM
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âReady to Sleep with the enemyâ. If you are looking for an apt Hollywood description to explain the Congress predicament in the light of Left looking ready to stop propping the UPA government, then the previous sentence would be the one.
A desperate Congress after being brought to the mat by the intransigent Left is now ready to break bread with Mulayam Singh Yadavâs Samjawadi party.
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Mulayam and his man Friday Amar Singh had been personal enemies of Sonia Gandhi not long ago. But now both of them have buried the hatchet, symbolising politics time-worn cliche: nobody is a permanent enemy.
Intriguingly, if reports are to be believed, Sonia and Mulayam, leaving their security personnel in the lurch, met at an undisclosed place in New Delhi twice in the last few days.
The meeting is significant, and the fact that they met twice is pointer to the fact that something concrete is happening between the two parties, said a top source today.
The possible meeting came out in the open after it was learnt that the two leaders went missing from their residence around the same time. âThis was a natural inference. They must have met,â sources added.
Being high-profile, they could not have kept it more clandestine, they added.
Mulayamâs party has just 39 MPs, while the Left has 61 MPs. So in the event of Left withdrawing support, the Congress would still have to look for more allies like Deve Gowda (3 MPs), Ajith Singh (3 MPs), UPAâs estranged ally Telangana Rashtra Samiti (3 MPs) and some other small parties.
If the Left withdraws its legislative support, the Congress-led government would need the help of smaller parties to cross the halfway mark of 271.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi has already discussed the options before the government with its allies Thursday.
The Congress has been under pressure from its poll-wary allies, who are against taking any steps that would disrupt UPA-Left ties.
The problem for the Congress high command that other than Sonia and her coterie, the other top leaders are not very keen to do business with Mulayam.
Congress leaders claimed that they were undecided on whether to take Mulayamâs support because his party was famous for playing the politics of convenience.
âMany Congress leaders feel that we cannot trust its leaders,â said a senior Congress minister, who did not want to be identified.
The Samajwadi Party, on its part, has already indicated that it does not mind extending support to Prime Minister Manmohan Singhâs government.
A final decision, Mulayam Singh Yadav has said, would be taken 3 July in a meeting of the third-front parties, the United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA).
The Samajwadi Party has its compulsions too. While its ally in the UNPA, the Telegu Desam Party (TDP) is dead against any pact with the Congress, the Left is also trying to stop it by rekindling hopes of a non-Congress, non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Third Front.
TDP MP MV Mysoora Reddy ruled out any ties between the Samajwadi Party and the Congress. âWe have not received any communication from the Samajwadi Party regarding their supporting Congress party. It is still with us,â Reddy has said previously.
Sun, 29 Jun, 2008,02:52 PM
.
âReady to Sleep with the enemyâ. If you are looking for an apt Hollywood description to explain the Congress predicament in the light of Left looking ready to stop propping the UPA government, then the previous sentence would be the one.
A desperate Congress after being brought to the mat by the intransigent Left is now ready to break bread with Mulayam Singh Yadavâs Samjawadi party.
.
Mulayam and his man Friday Amar Singh had been personal enemies of Sonia Gandhi not long ago. But now both of them have buried the hatchet, symbolising politics time-worn cliche: nobody is a permanent enemy.
Intriguingly, if reports are to be believed, Sonia and Mulayam, leaving their security personnel in the lurch, met at an undisclosed place in New Delhi twice in the last few days.
The meeting is significant, and the fact that they met twice is pointer to the fact that something concrete is happening between the two parties, said a top source today.
The possible meeting came out in the open after it was learnt that the two leaders went missing from their residence around the same time. âThis was a natural inference. They must have met,â sources added.
Being high-profile, they could not have kept it more clandestine, they added.
Mulayamâs party has just 39 MPs, while the Left has 61 MPs. So in the event of Left withdrawing support, the Congress would still have to look for more allies like Deve Gowda (3 MPs), Ajith Singh (3 MPs), UPAâs estranged ally Telangana Rashtra Samiti (3 MPs) and some other small parties.
If the Left withdraws its legislative support, the Congress-led government would need the help of smaller parties to cross the halfway mark of 271.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi has already discussed the options before the government with its allies Thursday.
The Congress has been under pressure from its poll-wary allies, who are against taking any steps that would disrupt UPA-Left ties.
The problem for the Congress high command that other than Sonia and her coterie, the other top leaders are not very keen to do business with Mulayam.
Congress leaders claimed that they were undecided on whether to take Mulayamâs support because his party was famous for playing the politics of convenience.
âMany Congress leaders feel that we cannot trust its leaders,â said a senior Congress minister, who did not want to be identified.
The Samajwadi Party, on its part, has already indicated that it does not mind extending support to Prime Minister Manmohan Singhâs government.
A final decision, Mulayam Singh Yadav has said, would be taken 3 July in a meeting of the third-front parties, the United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA).
The Samajwadi Party has its compulsions too. While its ally in the UNPA, the Telegu Desam Party (TDP) is dead against any pact with the Congress, the Left is also trying to stop it by rekindling hopes of a non-Congress, non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Third Front.
TDP MP MV Mysoora Reddy ruled out any ties between the Samajwadi Party and the Congress. âWe have not received any communication from the Samajwadi Party regarding their supporting Congress party. It is still with us,â Reddy has said previously.