KOLKATA: The battle of nerves reached its penultimate stage on Monday, with Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee sticking to her ultimatum that ends in a few hours, and Union finance minister P Chidambaram ruling out a rollback of the decisions on diesel, LPG and FDIin multi-brand retail.
Even as Renuka Chowdhury hinted at increasing the cap on subsidized LPG cylinders on Monday evening, Bengal finance minister Amit Mitra turned down Chidambaram's offer to visit Delhi on Tuesday to discuss Bengal's financial package due for September.
Hectic backroom talks are still on for a last minute recalibration of the executive decision. In the meantime, Mamata Banerjee has invited senior state ministers to the party's parliamentary committee meeting at Town Hall on Tuesday before taking the "hard decision."
The extended level of inner-party consultations indicates that the pressure game isn't one-sided. Pushed to the wall on Coalgate, the Congress is desperate to pursue reforms. It's perform-or-perish for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. And for Mamata, the choice is no less hard.
The Trinamool supremo isn't quite in the mood to dump UPA, but wants to demarcate herself from the Congress, believing this will help her checkmate the Left. The problem for her is that she has led a Left-handed attack against the Congress on reforms, narrowing the scope for such space.
Will Didi concede to tokenism? Speculation is rife that the Centre might propose a discount of arupee or so on diesel prices, but will Mamata settle for this? Trinamool leaders have realized by now that the Manmohan Singh government stands determined on FDI entry in multi-brand retail.
Pressure is also mounting on the Mamata Banerjee government to follow Delhi CM Sheila Dixit's example and give up a part of its additional revenue from the diesel hike to ease the burden on people
Even as Chidambaram and PCC president Pradip Bhattacharya keep saying that the Trinamool won't pull out of the ministry, not to speak of withdrawing support, it goes without saying that Mamata won't swallow the reform pill on Congress' terms. Not after toeing the line on the presidential polls.
While Trinamool leaders keep all options open for Didi - including pulling out of UPA - politics remains the priority for Mamata while Congress gives weightage to economics.
Mamata doesn't want to lose out on public posturing to Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samajwadi Party or the Left in opposing the reforms because she believes that the Congress is losing mass support. But if the government doesn't fall, the Congress-led UPA will get another two years to pursue the growth trajectory and continue to bother the Bengal government on the financial front.
The dilemma for Trinamool is whether it will be able to whip up sentiments against the Congress by going into a confrontation with the Centre.
If Mamata Banerjee chooses the hard route, she has to perfect a game of delicate balance - playing the role of Opposition while being part of UPA-II. It's something the Left vainly tried to do during the UPA-I regime.
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