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Mamata planning to share stage
with APHC leaders

Trinamul Congress Lok Sabha Member of Parliament Krishna Bose's decision to convene a meeting in Calcutta, which includes senior leaders of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, has set alarm bells ringing in Bharatiya Janata Party circles.

A functionary at the Hurriyat office in New Delhi indicated that 'if the Trinamul-sponsored-meeting does take place and if our leaders are invited, there is a possibility that Mirwaiz Omar Farooq and Yaseen Malik would attend." He did not elaborate.

BJP is following the developments with a wary eye. BJP MPs say there was no point in Mamata trying to solve the Jammu and Kashmir issue on her own.

"The international community has appreciated the initiatives taken by Prime Minister Vajpayee to restore peace in J&K. Senior Union ministers like Advani and George Fernandes have admirably supplemented the prime minister's peace moves and the government is determined to pursue peace initiatives despite continuing efforts to derail the peace process," pointed out senior BJP MP Ram Tahal Chaudhary.

The only reason for the 'entire exercise was that Mamata wants to make a favourable impression on her Muslim constituency in West Bengal', he said.

He stressed that like people all over the country, the Muslims in West Bengal too were keen to see peace restored in J&K.

This could be the reason why the 'politically conscious Trinamul chief' might have hit upon the 'brainwave' of inviting Hurriyat leaders to the proposed meeting, which could earn her brownie points among the state's Muslim electorate.

"I am not aware of any such meeting. However, I am at a loss why Trinamul leader Mamata Banerjee should agree to share the platform with Hurriyat leaders. From the government side, the only ones interacting with them are the prime minister, the Union home minister and the defence minister," said senior BJP leader Jagdish Prasad Mathur.

Trinamul leaders Sudip Bandopadhyay and Pankaj Banerjee were not available for comment. Like their party colleagues, including Mamata, they are presently in Calcutta.

However, BJP worker Dasrath Jha insisted that Mamata had made up her mind to jettison the National Democratic Alliance for political compulsions.

A veteran party activist in the South Delhi parliamentary constituency, Jha told rediff.com , "Mamata Banerjee is in touch with Congress leaders like Pranab Kumar Mukherjee and Priyaranjan Dasmunshi. She has already spoken to Congress president Sonia Gandhi."

Mathur, however, dismissed Jha's claim as 'fanciful' and 'far-fetched'.

Intelligence agencies have told the Union ministry of home affairs that Mamata was preparing to leave the NDA in order to win the support of the Muslims in West Bengal, which is vital if she wants to become the state's chief minister.

During the past four weeks, Trinamul leaders have been overly critical of the BJP-led NDA government, especially on the prime minister's recent controversial statement on the Ayodhya issue.

Recently, Mamata's absence at the prime minister's Iftaar party raised eyebrows, notably because she attended Sonia Gandhi's Iftaar party where her interaction with the Congress chief was marked by considerable warmth on both sides, in full glare of television cameras.

Trinamul has 10 Lok Sabha MPs and its exit from the NDA would not destabilise the government. However, BJP leaders are apprehensive that the move could trigger similar ones by other allies.

If the Telugu Desam Party, for example, with its crucial 29 MPs decided that it too had had enough of the ruling coalition at the Centre, it could impart a telling blow to the Vajpayee government.

The TDP too had expressed its anguish over Vajpayee's controversial statement on Ayodhya.

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