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Trinamool Congress president Mamata Banerjee finds herself caught in a cleft stick as she struggles to decide whether her party should remain within the National Democratic Alliance or jeopardize its political future by quitting the coalition on the issue of the imminent bifurcation of Eastern Railway.
The Union Cabinet presided over by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee endorsed on Monday the Cabinet's earlier decision in 1996 to bifurcate the zone.
Incensed, the Trinamool Congress is holding a crucial meeting of its executive at 1500 IST on Wednesday to decide its future course of action.
The bifurcation, according to Banerjee, will be a blow to the interests of her native West Bengal as it entails creating a new East Central railway zone out of the Eastern and Northeastern zones.
Expressing shock at the Cabinet decision, she lashed out at Railway Minister Nitish Kumar, alleging that the government's decision was a reward for his silence on the sordid intricacies of the Godhra massacre in Gujarat.
The Trinamool chief accused the dominant Bharatiya Janata Party and the Samata Party of riding roughshod over the interests of the smaller partners in the NDA.
But her threat to quit the alliance has met with a cold rebuff from BJP leaders.
"The Union Cabinet decision was taken after due consideration of all facets. Mamata Banerjee as railway minister did precious little to reverse the earlier Cabinet decision. We are not impressed by her blowing hot and cold now," a BJP vice-president, who did not wish to go on record, said.
This politician claimed that the NDA leadership had delivered a veiled warning to Banerjee that uncalled for statements by coalition partners could invite disciplinary action if they harmed the coalition's interests.
Clearly, Banerjee is becoming a victim of her own impulsive moves, which have betrayed a certain political naivete. First came her much-publicized departure from the NDA for fighting the assembly election in West Bengal in alliance with the Congress, which backfired as her party was thrashed.
She was then forced to swallow her pride and virtually beg Vajpayee to readmit her party in the NDA over the fierce opposition of several senior BJP politicians.
These politicians, however, prevented her re-induction into the Union Cabinet. And Banerjee, characteristically, made things difficult for herself by insisting on the railway portfolio, which had been handed over to Nitish Kumar after her exit.
Her apparent objective was to stonewall the move to bifurcate Eastern Railway. But not only did Kumar put his foot down and refuse to make way for her, he pressed ahead full-steam with the bifurcation plan, cornering Banerjee.
Now that the bifurcation has been cleared by the Cabinet (read: the prime minister), Banerjee has resorted to abusing the BJP-Samata combine, which is certain to rile the NDA leadership further.
The BJP has already warned Banerjee that her party's exit will not make any difference to the stability of the NDA government since it has a numerical strength in excess of 310 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha.
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