The dramatic developments on Wednesday unleashed by UPA-2 partner Mamata Banerjee on the issue of the presidential poll leave two clear messages.
The first is that there is no way Congress plans to jettison Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Doing so would imply the Congress cannot run the show for a full-term, more so when the appointee is Sonia Gandhi’ choice.
As a leading figure in the Nationalist Congress Party noted dryly, “Such a thing would be contemplated by the Congress only if they were so desperate as to make Rahul the Prime Minister midstream.’
For a party like the Congress or indeed BJP changing the Prime Minister amounts to an admission of failure before the electorate.
he second lesson is that UPA-2 has split open. Ms Banerjee’s Trinamul Congress has as good as left the ruling coalition.
Even if the formality is not completed, Congress is likely to bring dalit icon Mayawati into the picture more centrally.
Of course, at this stage Congress is not discussing these tricky possibilities on the record. “But the game has now opened up,” a leading UPA source said.
Some, including Ms Banerjee may hope for a mid-term poll, but this appears unlikely. Bharatiya Janata Party, the main Opposition, is itself likely to be divided on it.