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A desperate didi - Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee - has petitioned rapidly-dwindling sympathisers in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to persuade Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to give her a hearing on her party's return to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
However, it BJP is in no mood to forgive her 'betrayal' before the West Bengal assembly elections. Vajpayee had recently announced that the NDA's doors were closed to the Trinamul.
Even Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan, who had earlier adopted a 'soft line' on the Trinamul's return to the NDA, on Thursday indicated the shape of things to come when he said, "Everybody knows that Mamataji's party wants to be part of the NDA again. But in the wake of the prime minister's statement (ruling out the Trinamul's return), it is not a priority for the BJP."
BJP sources said that Mamata's emissary Dinesh Trivedi, a Trinamul Congress supporter, had to beat a hasty retreat when the party leader in-charge of West Bengal, Kailashpati Mishra, told him, "Your leader has grown too big for her boots. Now let her sweat it out."
Mishra is reported to have told Trivedi to 'tell Mamata to mind her own business' when the Trinamul emissary conveyed her request that the prime minister desist from inducting rebel party leader Ajit Kumar Panja into the Union Cabinet.
Panja had preferred to back the NDA even after Mamata announced a parting of ways and formed an alliance with the Congress - the NDA's chief political foe - in West Bengal for the recent assembly elections.
However, Mamata's position weakened considerably after the Trinamul's rout in the assembly elections.
Now Mamata is faced with the prospect of a revolt and a split in her party as its MPs are clamouring for the party's return to the NDA.
Significantly, despite the humiliation being heaped on the Trinamul chief by BJP leaders for her perceived 'betrayal', the prime minister's newly-appointed emissary, Sudheendra Kulkarni, has not yet abandoned his ongoing efforts to bring about a 'reconciliation' between the BJP and the Trinamul.
Explaining the reasons, senior BJP leader and parliamentary spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra said, "In politics, nothing is constant. But if at all the Trinamul was permitted to return to the NDA, it would be on the prime minister's and our party's terms."
Some senior BJP leaders would like the Trinamul to return to the NDA, following an apology by Mamata, to buttress its strength in the Lok Sabha.
So far, there is no proposal for a meeting between the prime minister and the Trinamul Congress chief.
EARLIER REPORT Mamata says she's not going back to NDA: PTI
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