Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav, the wily SP chief, who has been nursing prime ministerial ambitions, is working to cobble up a possible third front for the 2014 general elections. With a snap poll possibly helping him in UP, some top Congress leaders were not so sure about the SP supremo bailing the government out.
Meanwhile, with Ms Mamata Banerjee gone, the Congress, which has been sharing power in West Bengal, would in a way lose the state.
The Congress ministers in the state will submit their resignation immediately after the Trinamul ministers submit theirs to the PM. While the UPA-2 will be reduced to a working minority, resignation of Congress ministers will have no impact on the TMC government following its brutal majority in the state Assembly.
While Congress sources felt any move for a reconciliation from the Congress high command might make Ms Banerjee change her mind, in Kolkata the Trinamul chief stuck to her aggressive stance.
She asserted that all her ministers had already left for Delhi to submit their resignations. “A decision has been taken. Commitment is commitment,” she added.
Ms Banerjee, who strongly opposed the bandh called in the state by the Left Front, was, however, all praise for the Bharat bandh. “Forget about who called the bandh. The issues were genuine,” the Wes Bengal CM said.
Her remarks made it evident that Ms Banerjee, with an eye on the 2014 LS polls, was keeping her options open.