New Delhi: Reflecting his angst over ally Mamata Banerjee’s dramatic rejection of UPA’s Presidential nominees and her continued defiance, Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Sunday said there is a “limit” to which one can “bend” as certain eventualities have to be faced if they cannot be avoided.
He was replying to questions on Karan Thapar’s Devil’s Advocate programme on CNN-IBN as to whether Congress is ready to bend over backwards to prevent Banerjee’s exit from the UPA if she chooses to leave the ruling alliance.
The AICC general secretary at the same time made it clear that Congress on its own was not asking Mamata Banerjee to leave UPA and are “not throwing her out”.
“All efforts have been made to console her, accept her views, accept her tantrums…beyond a certain limit, the decision is hers…there is a limit to which you can bend to…there are certain eventualities, which if it cannot be avoided has to be faced,” Singh said replying to questions as to what extent Congress will bend to stop Trinamool Congress from walking out of the alliance if she chooses to do so. Singh also said it was “very embarrassing” for party President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that Banerjee not only rejected the names of both UPA nominees for President but joined hands with Samajwadi Party and announced three more names, including that of the Prime Minister when they “did not have consent of any of the three”.
Rejecting UPA’s nominees Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Hamid Ansari, Banerjee had in a joint press conference with SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav announced names of the Prime Minister, former President A P J Adbul Kalam and former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Wednesday, after she had a discussion with Gandhi on the issue.
Digivijay Singh also felt that giving a second term to Vice President Hamid Ansari is “not a bad idea” and that offering Vice Presidentship to NDA to get its support for UPA’s President candidate “looks unlikely”. (PTI)
