As if the DMK’s walkout were not enough, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee gave the Congress a few heart-stopping moments ahead of the swearing-in of cabinet ministers here on Friday.
Banerjee, the only cabinet minister from her party to be inducted, refused to take the oath, saying she preferred to do so on Tuesday with the five members of Parliament from her party who are to be ministers of state.
“It was with great difficulty that senior Congress leaders persuaded her to change her mind, saying that in the face of the DMK’s boycott, Didi’s gesture would be misinterpreted as another revolt by an ally,” said a Congress leader.
Banerjee will be among the few new faces in a cabinet that emphasises continuity. So much so that Murli Deora, who was petroleum minister the last time around, told journalists that the government would consider an administrative price mechanism for fuel prices; all this even before knowing his portfolio.
Meanwhile, former Maharashtra governor SM Krishna was in Bangalore when he got the all-important call from the cabinet secretariat. “Krishna rushed to the airport to catch an afternoon flight to Delhi. He made it in the nick of time for the swearing-in,” said a source in the Congress.
S Jaipal Reddy was expecting a call as he had been a cabinet minister in the previous government as well. After receiving it, he had his lunch and tried to grab a nap before the ceremony in the evening, only to be besieged by journalists.
According to convention, telephone calls to prospective ministers are made by officials of the cabinet secretariat. But as a prospective minister said, “I was happy to receive the call. As long as it was authentic, I don’t care who called.”
