There appeared to be broad informal consensus in political circles on Wednesday that heeding Trinamul Congress leader Mamata Banerjee’s peremptory warning to withdraw the proposal of even a marginal hike in railway fares can place the government in jeopardy when the national Budget is debated in Parliament in a few days.
Senior Congress MPs appeared to go along with this reading of many of their BJP and Left colleagues outside the chamber of the two Houses.
The Railway Budget proposals presented by rail minister Dinesh Trivedi is now a “property of the House” and cannot be tampered with and altered just because a UPA-2 coalition partner so desires, several senior politicians point out.
Any changes can now take place only after Parliament debates the proposals, not otherwise.
If taxation proposals of the government were changed on a political leader’s whim or personal preferences, then the general budget would potentially come under pressure from many parties even before discussion on it has taken place, top politicians cautioned.
While Mr Trivedi’s fate was being speculated in the light of Ms Banerji’s dire warnings and his seeming act of defiance, Congress and BJP MPs thought Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party can join UPA-2 if Mr Yadav was offered a senior Cabinet position. He is said to want the defence portfolio.
Few believe the Manmohan Singh government can be brought down in the event of Trinamul Congress going its separate way, should that happen. She is not even in a position to return to NDA, many felt, on account of the fear of losing Muslim support. CPI (M) leaders chuckled on the sidelines as they saw the drama unfold following Ms Banerjee’s tantrum on Wednesday.
A Cabinet minister said the anti-defection law applied if a legislator defied his party’s whip. It did not apply to a minister presenting a policy on the floor of the Parliament. That puts Mr Trivedi in the clear. But must he vote against his own rail budget proposals to please his party? Such a situation has never arisen in parliamentary history before.