New Delhi:
Akhilesh Yadav was sworn in as the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister today, and top Congress leaders were among those in Lucknow cheering enthusiastically. Repeatedly painted into a corner by ally Mamata Banerjee, the ruling Congress has decided to court Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajwadi Party with renewed ardour.
A weary Congress, which needs to push important legislation and reforms this year, sees hope in the 22 MPs of the Samajwadi Party, which had offered unsolicited support from the outside to the UPA government at the beginning of its term. Since then, Mulayam Singh Yadav has often rescued the government by voting in its favour on crucial legislation. The Congress is now keen to be able to count the SP on its side, and as relations with Mamata Banerjee spiral down, sources say the Congress is increasingly confident that if it comes to doing without Ms Banerjee's 19 MPs in the Lok Sabha, it can get the SP to guarantee support from outside if not as a part of the government
So while important developments were taking place in Parliament, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal was away in Lucknow representing the Congress at the Akhilesh Yadav swearing in ceremony. With him was the veteran Motilal Vora, apart from UP Congress leaders.
Parliament is in session and immediately, the UPA could need the SP's support on a number of issues that are threatening to come to a vote in Parliament, many of them issues where one or the other ally is unlikely to support it. Or then, if one of its allies follows up on its threat and does quit in a huff, leaving it short of the 272 halfway mark.
Too often has Ms Banerjee brought the government she partners to its knees, stalling reform measures as she flexes her 19 crucial MPs in the Lok Sabha, who are essential to the survival of a coalition that rules the country with a razor-thin majority. Most recently yesterday, when she sought to axe her own partyman and Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi for hiking train fares, embarrassing the government in the bargain and, as is routine now, ensuring that she had her way on all her demands. She has also captained a team of Chief Ministers against the proposed National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) and now wants the reference to the NCTC removed from the President's address.
The Congress had staked its all on a good performance in the UP elections. A tidy haul of seats could have put it in a position to offer support to a Samajwadi Party government in the state and ensured the support of that party's 22 MPs at the Centre. But Akhilesh Yadav scripted a big win for his party. With 224 of UP's 403 seats in its bag, the Samajwadi Party needed no support to form government in the state. SP leaders have since then, however, made clear that the party is focused on UP and has no interest in destabilising the government at the Centre to push for mid-term elections.