With the Budget and the Finance Bill yet to be passed, senior Congress leaders have gone into overdrive to salvage the situation and save the government and ensure that the DMK with its 18 MPs is back on track as far as the UPA is concerned.
In a move that could take her political opponents by surprise, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati is learnt to be working overtime to hold elections this year. This, say sources, will give little time for her political rivals to prepare for the polls.
With the government moving a resolution in the Lok Sabha to set up a Joint Parliamentary Committee on the 2G spectrum issue, the battle lines between the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance and the Bharatiya Janata Party have become more tightly drawn with the Congress preparing its ammunition to target the BJP during its National Democratic Alliance government, in a bid to expose the actions of their telecom ministers.
The Congress is geared up to drive a hard bargain when it comes to negotiations with the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal for the upcoming assembly elections in the state, says a senior party leader adding that unlike in the past they would not compromise on either the quality of seats or the number. Even if this means breaking up the alliance in West Bengal and contesting the assembly polls alone, added the leader.
In Wednesday's interaction with senior journalists, as one editor asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh 'why are you holding this press conference?,' -- which on the face of it may seem to be a strange question -- it reflected the growing sense that the prime minister had not recovered any lost ground by the exercise.
Is Prime Minister Manmohan Singh once again trying to derail the process of setting up a Joint Parliamentary Committee, for which hectic efforts have been made by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee having had a number of meetings with opposition leaders?
When Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee came to the All India Congress Committee headquarters on Tuesday evening to meet the Congress Working Committee members and party office bearers and hear their suggestions on what should be incorporated in the coming budget for the aam admi, he was bombarded with suggestions.
Both B K Chaturvedi and Rodham Narasimha, who have been named on the panel, participated in the approval process for the ISRO-Devas deal.
With the government inches closer to the setting up of a Joint Parliamentary Committee after the Congress party reportedly took a decision that enough damage had been done by Parliament being stalled and a signal filtering across that the government had something to hide, sources said that the modalities of how this has to be done are still to be worked out.
Hammered by the courts, trapped by scams and corruption charges, battling constant postponement of decisions and facing assembly elections in five states, the Congress party is likely to hold its chintan shivir (brainstorming session) in Jaipur on March 26-27 to make itself battle ready for the next round of elections.
Even as the United Progressive Alliance government continues to be in a tizzy over the Central Vigilance C's appointment, sources say that PJ Thomas has refused to quit, primarily because he feels that he is an honest man and because as the central vigilance commissioner he enjoys immunity against prosecution, particularly in corruption cases.
Interestingly, the Congress party has also washed its hands off the entire episode saying the issue was between the government and the Supreme Court and it was for the law officers to make the position clear. "Where does the Congress come in the picture?" asked Janardhan Dwivedi who heads the AICC media department.
Sources said the belief was that by that time,Trinamool Congress chief Mamata could well be out of the cabinet as there is every likelihood that she could be the next chief minister of West Bengal. Along with this, the the fate of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam would also be clear, depending on whether they win the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections. The Congress may rejig its relationship with the DMK depending on the post-poll scenario in Tamil Nadu.
Sources claim Rahul Gandhi has been feeling uneasy about the alleged links between some corporate houses and some ministers.
In a threatening tone, indicating that it had reached the end of its patience with the Bharatiya Janata Party and its aggressive style of politics, the Congress warned the top BJP leadership that if it did not change its style of politics and stop its 'personalised attacks' on Congress leaders, the party 'could retaliate and this could prove costly for the BJP.'
Striking a strident note, the Congress has renewed its attack on the Sangh Parivar asking the government to take strong and tough action against them, in the wake of a top Sangh functionary Swami Aseemanand admitting that he and his colleagues were involved in the Samjhauta Express blasts.
After the release of the Justice Srikrishna report on Telangana, the Congress leadership is gearing up to face a long drawn battle on the issue even as the bifurcation of the state is not on the mind of the party leadership, say highly placed sources in the Congress.
In a move which could further rock the United Progressive Alliance and create fresh fissures at the highest level in the government, union Home Minister P Chidambaram has fired a salvo against Finance Minister Pranab mukherjee on the issue of price rise saying that inflation is the biggest tax which the people have to face.
Mamata Bannerjee, a key United Progressive Alliance constituent, has put the cat amongst the pigeons by demanding that the UPA set up a co-ordination committee to discuss important issues and decisions before they are made and implemented. She said the recent petrol price hike was undertaken without her consent.
All India Congress Committee general secretary Mukul Wasnik's face off with the Bihar Congress delegates has turned ugly with senior leaders alleging that Wasnik, reportedly, hit senior party worker Shashi Kant Tewari, an old timer of the party.
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