TNN, Kolkata :
Will they or won’t they? None of the 34 Trinamool Congress MPs can yet say if the party will attend Narendra Modi’s swearing-in as Prime Minister in Rashtrapati Bhavan on May 26. They are all waiting for Mamata Banerjee’s directive. The status, as on Tuesday, is “undecided.”
Senior Trinamool MP Saugata Roy had to eat his words after saying that “it won’t be good to oppose the Narendra Modi government from the beginning”. Roy later clarified, “The earlier statement given by me was out of misunderstanding. I am withdrawing it since the party has not taken a final position on its future course (with regard to Modi government) in Parliament”. Even those who agree with Roy don’t dare open up after seeing the party senior’s predicament.
Yet it is not a closed chapter. Trinamool general secretary Mukul Roy and party MP Dinesh Trivedi are camping in Delhi. According to sources, efforts are on to engage with the new political formation
without being part of the Modi-led NDA. It’s clear Mamata doesn’t want to risk being seen close to NDA because she has to protect her Muslim vote bank for the 2016 assembly polls. Yet, cash-strapped Bengal cannot do without the Centre’s help.
So, what could be the agenda of engagement? Sources close to the development in Delhi pointed out that the BJP-led NDA may have got unquestioned majority in Lok Sabha but with 62 MPs in Rajya Sabha, it is far short of majority (124). This gap annoys BJP. NDA may get a breather in Rajya Sabha if Trinamool, with 12 MPs, helps narrow the gap on crucial issues and legislation that need to be passed in both Houses.
Narendra Modi, on the other hand, can reciprocate by offering Mamata a special financial package that the Congress didn’t give her during the UPA-II regime.
Will they or won’t they? None of the 34 Trinamool Congress MPs can yet say if the party will attend Narendra Modi’s swearing-in as Prime Minister in Rashtrapati Bhavan on May 26. They are all waiting for Mamata Banerjee’s directive. The status, as on Tuesday, is “undecided.”
Senior Trinamool MP Saugata Roy had to eat his words after saying that “it won’t be good to oppose the Narendra Modi government from the beginning”. Roy later clarified, “The earlier statement given by me was out of misunderstanding. I am withdrawing it since the party has not taken a final position on its future course (with regard to Modi government) in Parliament”. Even those who agree with Roy don’t dare open up after seeing the party senior’s predicament.
Yet it is not a closed chapter. Trinamool general secretary Mukul Roy and party MP Dinesh Trivedi are camping in Delhi. According to sources, efforts are on to engage with the new political formation
without being part of the Modi-led NDA. It’s clear Mamata doesn’t want to risk being seen close to NDA because she has to protect her Muslim vote bank for the 2016 assembly polls. Yet, cash-strapped Bengal cannot do without the Centre’s help.
So, what could be the agenda of engagement? Sources close to the development in Delhi pointed out that the BJP-led NDA may have got unquestioned majority in Lok Sabha but with 62 MPs in Rajya Sabha, it is far short of majority (124). This gap annoys BJP. NDA may get a breather in Rajya Sabha if Trinamool, with 12 MPs, helps narrow the gap on crucial issues and legislation that need to be passed in both Houses.
Narendra Modi, on the other hand, can reciprocate by offering Mamata a special financial package that the Congress didn’t give her during the UPA-II regime.
