Mamata yet to make up mind on UPA dinner

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Trinamul Congress chief and railway minister Mamata Banerjee continues to keep the UPA on tenterhooks. And this time, it’s about her likely presence, or absence, for the UPA dinner slated to be held in the capital on May 22.
While Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is learnt to have extended an invite to the temperamental Trinamul l

eader for the May 22 dinner, her party sources said that she’s yet to “make up her mind” on whether she would be attending it.
Ms Banerjee, in fact, would be going against her grain if she were to take a decisive call on the dinner invite just yet. After all, one of her USPs has been her unpredictability vis-à-vis the UPA of which her party became a key ally after the May 2009 General Elections.
She surprised the Congress just about two weeks ago with her decision to go it alone for the Kolkata Municipal Corporation polls and civic polls in some other districts of West Bengal. Breaking the jot (alliance) between her party and the Congress, not only did she take the latter by surprise but also angered many in the Congress.
However, despite the current acrimony between her party and the Congress, Ms Banerjee was at pains to state that the Trinamul remains a part of the UPA. She was reported as having told reporters earlier in the week: “Why do you ask me about whether I would continue to support the government. I want to make it clear that we are with the government.”
Of course, Ms Banerjee and her party need to remain with the UPA until at least the Assembly polls are held in West Bengal which are slated for 2011.
Ms Banerjee though created a flutter a few days ago by declaring that the Assembly polls in Bengal would be held in October this year while mentioning that she had discussions on early elections in the state with Union home minister P. Chidambaram.
With her eyes firmly set on occupying Writer’s Building rather than her present charge of Rail Bhavan, there are other parties waiting to fill the vacancy in case Ms Banerjee decides to change her equation with the UPA. Foremost among them is the Samajwadi Party whose leader, Mulayam Singh Yadav, appears to be eager to fill the empty space with his 21 MPs in case the Trinamul decides to leave with its 19 MPs.
Mr Yadav, in fact, is reported to have conveyed to senior Congress leader and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee his willingness to step in if the troublesome Trinamul decided to step out of the UPA.