New Delhi, May 18
After winning 21 seats in Uttar Pradesh, the state Congress is of the opinion that the party should not enter into any tie-up at the Centre with the Samajwadi Party, the BSP or the RLD- the party headed by Ajit Singh, which landed five Lok Sabha seats in this general election.
The most important decision regarding which all parties will finally be taken on board will be decided by the “UPA’s pre-poll allies” at a meeting scheduled on Wednesday, May 20. The meeting will be preceded by the Congress Parliamentary Party meeting in the Central Hall on Tuesday, where the chairperson of the CPP will be chosen who will then nominate the leader of the House.
Though there is a great clamour for Rahul Gandhi to be included in the Cabinet, with some party leaders even demanding Deputy Prime Minsitership for him, sources within the party say that the young Gandhi is just not inclined towards holding any such post for now. “Rahul Gandhi is refusing power,” says a senior Congress leader, adding that he would prefer to concentrate on building the party. In all probability, it is the DMK, the Trinamool Congress, the NCP and the National Conference, who will be represented in the government. HD Kumaraswamy of the JD(S) who met Congress Preseident Sonia Gandhi a day before the results were announced may land himself a portfolio, sources say.
As far as the RLD is concerned, though it had an electoral alliance with the BJP, there were speculations that Ajit Singh may be invited by the Congress to provide numbers to reach the magical figure of 273. The general opinion within the grand old party is that it will be preferable to take support from either Independents or smaller parties rather than go in for parties like the SP, holding a bigger block of MPs.
With the Congress having the luxury of numbers, the general feeling is that taking the SP or the RLD on board would damage the party’s prospects in Assembly elections, scheduled in 2012. According to Joshi, the party emerged a runner-up in as many as 50 seats and is already on the way up. The decision according to which parties will finally be a part of the new government will be taken at the UPA meeting on Wednesday at the Congress President’s 10, Janpath Road reseidence. Sources say the party, riding high on its success, is most likely to sideline the RJD’s chief Lalu Prasad Yadav with just four MPs this time.
Apparently Lalu is no longer the Congress' favourite ally and may even find it difficult to land up any portfolio, let alone the much-coveted Railway Ministry. Unable to take the humiliation any more, at the Cabinet Meeting this morning, he reportedly also asked why the Congress was insulting him. Citing Vilasrao Deshmukh’s statement that the Congress should go it alone in the assembly elections in the state, he called it an insult to NCP chief Sharad Pawar. However, the Prime Minister as well as Pawar preferred to remain silent over the issue.
Though Lalu got a phone call from Sonia Gandhi, sources say it was clear that the party was not keen on offering him anything this time.
