Worried Manmohan may talk to Advani ?
Fly on the Wall
With Finance Minister P Chidambaram propounding a “Zero-Loss” theory in
the Coalgate scam and more and more Opposition parties are joining the
anti-government chorus, as Congress Core Committee dwelt with new ideas to
break the logjam.
One of the suggestions that emerged during the meeting last night was
that the PM should directly speak to NDA leader L K Advani and invite him for
one-to-one talk. Both do not enjoy a comfortable relationship for quite some time.
Advani is targeting the “honest Manmohan Singh image” in the coalgate and unwilling to negotiate so far.
The Congress Core Committee was particularly alarmed over reports that Samajwadi
Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav may attend a meeting called by Opposition
leader Sushma Swaraj in her parliament house office on Monday morning to chalk
out a common strategy in Parliament house. The AIADMK, Biju Janata Dal and TDP
have already joined the anti-PM chorus and grand Opposition alliance is
emerging. Though Mulayam Singh Yadav is unpredictable and no one is sure what
he will do on Monday. But he has adopted a tough posture against UPA on
Coalgate and feels that by joining Opposition, he will be able to hijack the
anti-corruption plank of the BJP in UP. He has openly accused the UPA by saying
yesterday that, “This government has lost his moral right to rule.” Secondly,
he may also become a rallying point of the Joint Action against Corruption.
In this scenario the UPA trying to break the logjam and ensure that PM is
able to make his statement on coalgate and answers all the questions raised by
the MPs on Monday itself. He will be able to proceed to NAM summit on Tuesday. Since
the debate will be nationally televised, he will benefit.
The Core Committee has also entrusted the task of coordinating with the
Opposition leaders to Sushil Kumar Shinde, P Chidambaram and Pawan Kumar Bansal
to find a mutually acceptable formula to break the logjam.
