Soren on board, UPA awaits word from Ajit

There were half-a-dozen absentees at Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s meetings with MPs on Saturday but the party leaders explained that they had all communicated in advance about their inability to make it to New Delhi on Saturday and that they would all be here before Monday.

Among the absentees were Mandya MP M H Ambareesh, Narsapur MP CV Hariram Jogaiah, Karnal MP Arvind Sharma, and Barpeta MP A F Golam Osmani. Congress leaders, however, claimed all, except Sharma and “perhaps” Ambareesh, were well on board.

Raichur MP A Venkatesh Naik and Chitradurga MP H Y Hanumanthappa could also not make it to the meeting in the morning, but they were set to meet the party president later. Amreli MP Virjibhai Thummar could not come because of some family function, explained Congress leaders.

JD (S) chief H D Deve Gowda today refused to spell out the party’s stance even after meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. After meeting the PM, he held a series of meetings with leaders of the emerging third alternative including BSP leader Satish Mishra, TDP leader Yerran Naidu and the Left leaders.

RLD chief Ajit Singh also kept up the suspense entertaining visitors such as TDP leader Chandrababu Naidu and TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao. “On many issues we have the same views as Chandrababu Naidu. He has put very forceful arguments. We have to consider four years’ rule of this government,” said Singh after his meeting with Naidu.

Naidu and Rao impressed upon the RLD leader to look at the emerging political scenario and its future prospects before taking a call. Even the RLD was learnt to be split with one party MP favouring a tie-up with the BJP and another with the BSP.

Soren ran out of options as most of his MPs preferred to go with the UPA and as the BJP refused to play ball, realising the chief ministership of Jharkhand was too expensive a price to pay for Soren without his MPs.

Soren, however, is yet to announce his choice. He has convened a meeting of party leaders including MPs, MLAs and party functionaries on Sunday to finalise the party’s stance.

Meanwhile, UPA leaders met at External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s residence on Saturday evening to take stock of the numbers. RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav declared that the ruling side had the support of 291 MPs. He rubbished reports suggesting that four RJD MPs were in touch with the JD(U).

The meeting at Mukherjee’s residence was also attended by SP leaders Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh. Lalu Prasad and Ram Vilas Paswan claimed that the Congress-led coalition has the support of 291 MPs and the JMM was “part and parcel of the UPA” and their MPs will vote for the country.

“Mayawati is not so fortunate to become Prime Minister and Advaniji doesn’t have it in his fortunes to become PM,” said the Railway Minister. “The magic figure is 271 and Laluji said that we have the support of 291 MPs. We have identified 281 of the members who will support us. Remaining 10 will support us during trust vote,” said Paswan.

With potential allies giving tense moments to UPA crisis managers, there was also some good news for the ruling camp. JD(U) MP from Lakshdweep P Pookunhi Koya was said to have assured his support to UPA leadership.

Also, at a crucial meeting convened by Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai today, two out of the 12 party MPs, Amravati MP Anant Gudhe and Ramtek MP Prakash Jadhav, were absent.

As reported by The Indian Express on Saturday, four Shiv Sena MPs had approached Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vyalar Ravi early this week offering their support on the condition of getting Congress or NCP nomination in the next Lok Sabha elections.

The JD(U) MP from Aonla, Kunwar Sarvraj Singh, was also said to have switched over to the Congress. Congress sources said Lakshman Singh, Rajgarh MP and brother of AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh, was also in touch with the Congress. When contacted, however, Lakshman Singh said he was with the BJP and would follow the party line.

National Conference president Omar Abdullah who has also got invitation for the PM’s dinner was said to be inclined to abstain, although he was “not closed” to the idea of voting for the government, said Congress sources.

BJP MP Dharmendra who is in US for medical treatment is learnt to have communicated to the BJP leadership through his wife Hema Malini that he might not be able to make it for the trust vote.

At the meeting with party MPs today, the Congress President asked them to back the government on the nuclear deal, which will be “the most important issue” in the next election whenever it is held. She gave them a booklet that answered all queries and doubts raised by the Opposition and the Left regarding the deal.

According to sources present in the meeting, she asked them to reach out to the minorities and explain the “facts” about the deal. Congress MPs have been asked to stay put in the capital till the trust vote. AICC general secretary Prithviraj Chavan told reporters that the there will be “surprises from all parties except the Left” when the trust vote takes place. Crisis managers of the ruling camp are in touch with over a dozen Opposition MPs in Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Karnataka.