Congress plays on fear factor

A day after Mamata Banerjee and Mulayam Singh Yadav stunned the Congress by proposing PM Manmohan Singh’s name for the next President, the party on Thursday cautioned its allies that the real design behind the move could be to ‘force’ mid-term polls.

A day after Mamata Banerjee and Mulayam Singh Yadav stunned the Congress by proposing PM Manmohan Singh’s name for the next President, the party on Thursday cautioned its allies that the real design behind the move could be to ‘force’ mid-term polls.

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Congress sources said taking the name of the sitting PM suggested that the Trinamool Congress and the Samajwadi Party chiefs were “working according to a game plan” to topple the UPA government.

Privately Congress leaders were more critical of Banerjee. They felt Banerjee had “betrayed” and “violated the basic political ethics” by making public the details of her meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

Accordingly, a plan was worked out to isolate the two.

The allies have been conveyed that the strategy of these two parties was to get Manmohan elected President and later “create hurdles” when it came to choosing the PM.

“We are well aware of their game plan. They want to corner us and create uncertainty. If we don’t agree to their choice for PM, they will withdraw support and seek mid-term elections,” a senior functionary said.

Congress sources said both SP and TMC are buoyed by the election outcome in their respective states and want to “cash in on the prevailing goodwill”. “They know this goodwill will not last till 2014 and hence are eager to get the polls advanced,” said another leader.

The allies have told the Congress that they would “scuttle any plan to topple the government” and assured of their “unflinching support” to the party’s presidential candidate.

“Nobody other than TMC and SP wants elections now,” said a Congress leader.