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Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will desist from inducting any Trinamul Congress MP into his Cabinet until the parent body headed by party chief Mamata Banerjee and the rebel faction headed by Ajit Kumar Panja sort out their tussle, a senior official of the prime minister's office said.
"The prime minister feels that the Trinamul MPs must sort out their problem before he considers inducting any of them into the Cabinet. He has apprised all the Trinamul members of this," the official told rediff.com
Clad in a dark, full-sleeved safari suit, rebel Trinamul leader Panja merely smiled when asked outside Parliament by rediff.com whether he looked forward to a slot in the Union Cabinet.
"That is the prime minister's prerogative, why bother speculating," he shot back when persisted with the question.
He also declined to comment on his ongoing tussle with party chief Banerjee.
She could not be spotted in the Lok Sabha on Monday along with her party members. However, Trinamul sources in Parliament contended that the party chief had not totally burnt her bridges with the prime minister and the ruling National Democratic Alliance.
"These things (the Trinamul's patch-up with the NDA ) take time. One should not jump to hasty conclusions," the sources contended.
They indicated that Banerjee had put her foot down against Panja's proposed induction into the Cabinet telling Prime Minister Vajpayee that it would be a blow to her prestige and that it would adversely affect her standing in the party.
The sources said it was following this development that the prime minister told Panja to exercise patience and sort out the tangle with her.
Since the Trinamul has eight MPs in the Lok Sabha, the prime minister is still amenable to its rejoining the NDA to boost its overall parliamentary strength.
Meanwhile, the introduction of newly inducted Union Agriculture Minister and Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh by Prime Minister Vajpayee in the Lok Sabha drew jeers from the opposition benches.
Shouts of 'aaya Ram, gaya Ram' greeted Singh when Vajpayee introduced him as the new agriculture minister.
Singh, however, kept his cool and did not react.
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