Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has again been reminded that it does not pay to tangle with Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani.
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Though on Monday she managed a return to the Vajpayee Cabinet, she is, at least for now, a minister without portfolio.
Mamata's well-publicised face-offs with Advani over the bifurcation of the eastern railway and then over a berth in the Union Cabinet are all too well known.
Her latent hostility to Advani boiled over when during the last Cabinet reshuffle effected by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, she found that her party colleague and member of Parliament from the Kolkata North-West parliamentary constituency, Sudip Bandopadhyay, was also to be sworn in alongside with her.
Mamata was angry because she had no inkling of Bandopadhyay's planned induction into the Cabinet. How could an MP of her party get into the Union Cabinet without her approval?
Bandopadhyay was apparently being rewarded for his efforts in persuading Mamata to remain with the National Democratic Alliance on more than one occasion.
On the Trinamool side, however, Bandopadhyay was something of a villain then.
"He had lost his head over getting a central ministry and had forgotten what party loyalty was all about," a senior Trinamool MP told rediff.com.
When Mamata got to know of the move to accommodate Bandopadhyay, she turned down the prime minister's offer of a Cabinet berth for her.
Bandopadhyay, ever since, has been sidelined in party affairs.
Bandopadhyay wields such influence in Delhi because he is close to Advani. And it's a double advantage, because Advani and Mamata do not get along well.
A few weeks back, Advani declined Mamata's invitation to attend a function in Kolkata. A few days later, he agreed to attend another organised by Bandopadhyay in the city.
"As far as we are concerned, Bandopadhyay has proved to be more reliable than his party chief," pointed out a BJP MP from Delhi.
Mamata's earlier defiance to him has not been forgotten by the deputy prime minister. He let it be known that she could not have her way fully because she had proved to be an irritant in the way of the BJP's plans on a uniform civil code
and other sensitive issues like Ayodhya.
BJP sources said Advani had conveyed his disenchantment about Mamata to the prime minister. Consequently, despite having a soft corner for her, Vajpayee could not give a high-profile portfolio to Mamata.
She is reportedly being sanctioned the Union coal portfolio. And that is not all. No other Trinamool MP has found a place in Vajpayee's team.
Mamata wanted Trinamool MP Akbor Ali Khondekar to be made a minister of state.
"She [Mamata] will have to watch her way. Being a minister once again in the NDA government doesn't mean that she can do what she pleases as is her wont," said the BJP MP.
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