The UPA government on Tuesday failed to project a united face despite setting up a coordination committee of all alliance partners. Key alliance partner Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee was conspicuous by her absence at a meeting of the committee called to show a cohesive face of the UPA as well as to evolve a strategy for the monsoon session of parliament.
While parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Bansal has been arranging interaction of ministers with the allies to brief them about proposed laws and issues, NCP chief Sharad Pawar had recently forced the government to formalise the setting up of a coordination committee.
Pawar and Praful Patel attended the meeting at prime minister Manmohan Singh’s residence, but Mamata Banerjee stayed away. She did not even authorise anyone to attend the meeting on her behalf.
The coordination committee was announced on Monday to ensure proper functioning of the alliance.
Trinamool leaders claimed Mamata had previous engagements in Kolkata and so could not attend, but refused to say why she did not depute any of the ministers or MPs who were already in Delhi.
