Delivering a body blow to the UPA-2 government led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee announ-ced Tuesday evening she was withdrawing support. She decided to quit UPA-2 in protest against the recent hike in diesel prices, cap on subsidised LPG cylinders, FDI in multi-brand retail and corruption issues.
On Friday all six Trinamul ministers at the Centre, including railway minister Mukul Roy, will submit their resignations to the Prime Minister. Trinamul Congress, which has 19 MPs in the Lok Sabha, is the first ally to desert the UPA ship.
While bringing down the hammer on the government, she left a window of negotiation ajar by saying that “in the next three days, if the Centre rolls back the decision on FDI in multi-brand retail, raises the cap on supply of subsidised LPG to 12 cylinders and reduces the diesel hike from `5 to `3 or `4, then the party would reconsider its decision”. The 72-hour deadline which the Trinamul chief had earlier set the Centre on Friday to concede her demands, had ended on Monday.
The BJP, smelling blood, is looking at the option of stepping up pressure on the government for a special session of Parliament. The Left parties have asked the government to prove its majority on the floor of the House. At this juncture, however, there appears to be no threat to the stability of the Manmohan Singh government even without Trinamul support.
Amid swirling speculation in political circles, Congress president Sonia Gandhi had a detailed talk with the Prime Minister earlier Tuesday on the issues raised by Ms Banerjee. Sending a signal that the Congress was still keen to negotiate with the TMC chief, party spokesman Janardan Dwivedi said: “We would like to speak to her on the issues she raised today.” He then added: “Till all doors are closed, Mamata Banerjee will continue to be a valuable ally.”
Confident that none of its allies, particularly Trinamul, has any option but to extend support, the government apparently played the reforms card and didn’t even bother to send any positive signal to Ms Banerjee. The Trinamul chief herself said she had sent a message to Sonia Gandhi, seeking her intervention, but the latter had not responded.
Taking the government by surprise, the TMC chief withdrew support and went on to accuse UPA-2 of indulging in the “politics of blackmail”. She hit out: “Whenever it has problems with Mayawati, it turns to Mulayam. When it has problems with Mulayam, it goes to JD(U)’s Nitish Kumar. This government is like that.”
Ms Banerjee added: “We were the second-largest constituent, but we were never shown minimal respect, and not consulted on important decisions.”
An angry Ms Banerjee questioned the timing of the recent decisions on economic reforms. “Is it correct that the ‘FDIgate’ has been launched to divert attention from Coalgate?”
Despite the Trinamul’s support, there appears to be no immediate threat to the government. With both the SP and BSP extending outside support, the UPA will remain afloat, with the backing of 294 MPs, that is 22 more than the magic figure of 272. But without SP, BSP and Trinamul support, the government has only 254 MPs supporting it, 18 less than needed.
While the DMK, with 18 MPs, has assured support and described itself as a “loyal ally”, the party has indicated it will join the September 20 Bharat bandh in protest against the government’s policies. The Congress is naturally not happy with such a situation.