New Delhi:
Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday pulled out of the United Progressive Alliance or UPA, leaving it a minority government. Her party, Trinamool Congress, has six ministers at the Centre, who will submit their resignations to the Prime Minister on Friday in protest against new reforms introduced by the government last week, including raising diesel prices, restricting the supply of subsidised cooking gas to six cylinders per household, and Foreign Direct Investment or FDI in retail. All eyes are now set on what happens next.
If and when the Trinamool Congress submits their letter of withdrawal to President Pranab Mukherjee, the President will most likely have to call for a vote of confidence in Parliament.
However, this is the first time that a government has been reduced to a minority when Parliament is not in session. The President could call a special session for a possible confidence vote, or keep it in abeyance till Parliament reconvenes for the winter session.
Without Ms Banerjee's 19 MPs the UPA is well short of the 272 halfway mark in the Lok Sabha. Its calculations so far have been that if Ms Banerjee walked out, parties like those of Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati would prop it up. That to counter Ms Banerjee's 19 MPs, it could count on Mr Yadav's 22 and Mayawati's 21; both these regional powerhouses have submitted n letters of outside support to the President.
Mr Yadav landed in Delhi last night and plans to meet with the Left and other parties to gauge their reaction to the UPA's new position. "Don't take us for granted," warned his party's Ram Gopal Yadav after Ms Banerjee's announcement. "We will not join the government. Any party that does so will be wiped out in 2014," he said, adding that his party will decide its next move after an all-India bandh or strike on Thursday to protest against the centre and its decisions on FDI and the new diesel prices.
Even the BSP has already said that it wants a rollback of the reform decisions of the government - the introduction of FDI in retail, removal of the cap on cooking gas cylinders and the hike in diesel prices. Sources in the BSP say that Mayawati will decide on her relationship with the UPA at a meeting of her party on October 10.
Lok Sabha NumbersMajority mark: 272; total seats 543
UPA + Allies (Mamata, Mulayam, Karunanidhi) = 329 seats
UPA + Allies - Mamata = 310 seats
UPA - Mamata and Mulayam = 288 seats
UPA without the three Ms (Mamata's 19 MPs + Mulayam's 22 MPs + Mayawati's 21 MPs) = 267 seats