Congress meeting on Mamata's pullout-India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

A meeting of the Core Group of the Congress Party at Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh's official 7, Race Course Road residence held here on Wednesday to decide on the next steps in the wake of the TMC withdrawal from the ruling UPA Government has ended. The meeting of the Congress Core Group, which included Dr. Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Defence Minister AK Antony, Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Gandhi's political secretary Ahmed Patel, lasted for nearly two hours. According to sources, the Prime Minister’s Office and the Prime Minister himself made all efforts to talk to Banerjee, but the upset TMC chief did not respond. Media reports now suggest that the Prime Minister will now talk to TMC Ministers in the Union Cabinet in this regard. Initial media reports, however, suggested that the government is confident that it is stable. The ruling UPA Government would now be looking at Mulayam Singh Yadav, as the Samajawadi Party’s Parliamentary board is expected to meet tomorrow to decide on whether or not to continue supporting the government. Mulayam Singh Yadav earlier today took a jibe at the ruling Congress Party, saying it will become weaker because of its stubborn behaviour. “The government’s stubborn behaviour will do it no good. The Congress Party will become weaker because of its stubborn behaviour,” he told mediapersons here. Yadav further lashed out at the UPA government for increasing pressure on the common man of the country, and in particular being insensitive to the concerns of the farming community. “The government should get wise, what have they given to people of the country? There is so much pressure on the common man and the farmers. We will discuss our strategy in the Parliamentary board meeting,” he said. The TMC's decision brings the UPA's effective strength in the 545-seat Lok Sabha from 273 to 254, which is slightly below the halfway mark. This would make the Congress-led UPA Government more dependent on the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), both of which extend outside legislative support to the UPA regime.

Congress Core Group meeting to pacify Mamata