Though Mamata Banerjee is yet to confirm whether she would go to UP or Punjab for the swearing in ceremonies on invitation of Mulayam Singh Yadav and Prakash Singh Badal, Trinamool Congress insiders believe invitations proved that Banerjee’s political weight is rising by the day. And Congress bigwigs in state feel a little embarrassed “that media is reading too much into these invitations.’’ “While we do not see any immediate threat, we can feel Mamata would be into more hard bargaining on several other issues like funds and river waters,’’ said a top state Congress leader. “Bad results has effectively cut us short in Bengal also,’’ he added. Congress general secretary and Bengal in-charge Shakeel Ahmed met Mamata on Saturday and had a long discussion. Though he termed it a courtesy call, he was understood to have discussed post-assembly election scene.
Interestingly, Trinamool Congress insiders, do not exactly see it like the Congress do. “We do not know, if Mamata would get time to attend the ceremonies, but it was she who called up Mulayam and congratulated him and their invitations would carry more meaning in future, a minister said.
Why wait till the ides of March?
Political circles here are agog with speculation over the question about why SP partriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav has left a gap of as many as five days between Akhilesh being elected the SPLP leader and his swearing in on Thursday. Party insiders reveal that Mulayam wants his son’s swearing in to be a big occasion which would showcase the party’s strength before top leaders of the country. Those in the know of things also say that Netaji could use the swearing in ceremony as the launching pad for reconstructing the ‘Third Front’ in view of the next Lok Sabha election. Party sources say the guest list could include top leaders including Farooq Abdullah, J Jayalalitha, Nitish Kumar, Ram Vilas Paswan, Sharad Yadav, leaders from Communist parties and other old associates of the Samajwadi chieftain. This could signal the beginning of getting the Third Front together once again for the 2014 Lok Sabha poll, said a senior SP leader.
