Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will need more than dinner diplomacy to woo coalition partner Trinamool Congress (TC) and a resurgent Samajwadi Party. The TMC, which kept off a dinner hosted by Singh for UPA allies, is planning to sit on a dharna inside Parliament premises on March 15, a day before the Union Budget.
Meanwhile, the UPA’s outside supporter Samajwadi Party created a flutter by taking the first step to build bridges with the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Accompanied by son and UP chief minister-designate Akhilesh Yadav, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Tuesday visited CPI(M) headquarters AK Gopalan Bhavan here to meet general secretary Prakash Karat.
The TC, which has demanded a special package for West Bengal, is peeved at what it says is the neglect of the state. ?This is our genuine demand,? said a party MP. Its MP Kalyan Banerjee has filed a notice in Parliament to amend item 91 in the President?s address, which pertained to the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), an issue that has not found favour with the SP either.
TC?s Derek O?Brien confirmed that a similar notice would be moved in the Rajya Sabha too when the motion of thanks for the President?s address is moved there.
?Our views are well known,? O’Brien said.
Yadav and Karat were meeting after a gap of four years, when Yadav broke ranks with other third-front partners and supported the UPA government on the Indo-US nuclear deal. Karat received a call from Yadav last evening and decided to ?bless? the young chief minister.
Though all the bonhomie may not amount to much, these are portents of shifting political ground in the country ? creating additional stress for a government which already has too much on its plate.
