Looking beyond Prez poll, SP reaching out to TMC
Alignments and realignments are being worked out among UPA allies, particularly between the Samjawadi Party and Trinamul Congress, who had gone different ways over the presidential elections.
The SP, after spurning Trinamul supremo Mamata Banerjee, is now trying to reach out, claiming there is “no discord” between them.
The SP is likely to hold its national executive meeting in Kolkata in August and wants to use this opportunity to hold parleys with Ms Banerjee to plan a joint strategy ahead of the 2014 general elections. “We don’t have any discord with Mamata Banerjee and are open to all possibilities,” SP national secretary Rajesh Dixit told this newspaper.
After Congress president Sonia Gandhi told Ms Banerjee that Pranab Mukherjee was her preferred presidential choice, both Trinamul and SP joined hands to reject the name. But a day later, when the Congress officially announced Mr Mukherjee’s candidacy, the SP promptly swtiched sides and backed the UPA candidate.
But despite this, SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav continues to send positive signals to Ms Banerjee, and has even gone on record saying he will “speak to her on the phone and then visit her” during the forthcoming SP meeting in Kolkata. “Even if she doesn’t welcome me, I will insist on entering her home. I am sure things will be sorted out thereafter.”
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