Sonia chief floor manager in LS?

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Congress president Sonia Gandhi appears to be emerging as the chief floor manager in Parliament after the elevation of Mr Pranab Mukherjee as the President.

Mrs Gandhi is spending more time in Parliament, especially in the Lok Sabha after realising that the home minister and the new leader of the House Sushilkumar Shinde needs more time to settle.

But before that she has established good rapport with the floor leaders. While Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj has already moved closer to Mrs Gandhi, the Janata Dal (U) is not seen as an anti-Congress party like the Shiromani Akali Dal, the Biju Janata Dal and the Telugu Desam Party because of their state specific compulsions.

The AIADMK has no differences with the Congress but it cannot ally with the latter so long as the DMK is part of the UPA.

The Shiv Sena could take stand on issues independently as was seen in the presidential elections held in 2007 and 2012. The main Opposition party in Maharashtra had voted for the Congress backed presidential nominees Ms Pratibha Patil and Mr Mukherjee.

On the other hand, the Left wants to be friendly with the Congress outside West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura to remain politically relevant.

CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury, the CPI leader A.B. Bardhan have been known for being soft on the Gandhi family.

Mrs Gandhi has been maintaining good relations with the Samajwadi Party, the BSP, the RJD and the LJP despite fighting elections against them in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Her decision to set up a coordination committee of the UPA, whose first meeting took place here on Wednesday, would bring the Congress allies — NCP, DMK, Trinamul Congress, Jammu and Kashmir National Conference, Rashtriya Lok Dal — closer and could involve them in the decision making process.