NEWSLINKS US EDITION SOUTH ASIA COLUMNISTS DIARY SPECIALS INTERVIEWS CAPITAL BUZZ REDIFF POLL DEAR REDIFF THE STATES ELECTIONS ARCHIVES US ARCHIVES SEARCH REDIFF
Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi
The reported desire of the Trinamool Congress to rejoin the National Democratic Alliance fold has not enthused a sizeable number of Bharatiya Janata Party Members of Parliament, who regard its party chief Mamata Banerjee as an 'undependable' ally.
"If our high command thinks that the Trinamool can come back, so be it. But we only hope that its members will not persist in raising the Eastern Railway bifurcation issue, which has already been irreversibly decided," Seeshram Ravi, MP, said.
Ravi said he was not particularly enamoured of the Trinamool's 'blow hot, blow cold' approach towards the NDA.
The party had twice left the ruling coalition only to rejoin it when it 'suited Mamata', he said.
BJP veterans like former party chief K Jana Krishnamurthy have already expressed their reservations against the Trinamool rejoining the ruling coalition.
Krishnamurthy had told reporters that any party leaving the NDA and then returning would have to wait for at least six months before giving a ministerial berth.
Another prominent BJP Lok Sabha MP, who requested anonymity, indicated that Mamata was now 'angling' for a Cabinet berth, which she rejected during the height of the bifurcation controversy.
Mamata, at that time, had said that she valued her chappals [slippers] much more than the Cabinet berth being offered to her as a consolation for the bifurcation being carried out.
She had also lashed out harshly against Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani for accusing Trinamool MPs of turning the bifurcation controversy into a prestige issue.
Significantly, the NDA has rustled up sufficient strength in Lok Sabha, which is well over the 300 mark, although it needs just 272 seats in a house of 543 for a simple majority.
But the Trinamool's ostensible return to the NDA fold is being perceived by political observers as the Vajpayee-Advani combine's effort to keep the multiparty coalition's parliamentary strength safe.
Back to top
Tell us what you think of this report
