By enlisting the support of the JD(S) and the RLD on the eve of the special Lok Sabha session for the trust vote, BSP chief Mayawati today had the UPA scrambling for numbers.

The ruling alliance’s balance sheet threw up no clear winners — 266 behind the UPA and seven fence-sitters in a House of 542 — but the partners cheered up somewhat after a dinner that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hosted at the Ashok Hotel. UPA crisis managers claimed that “promises” had come from over a dozen MPs from the Opposition camp. National Conference chief Omar Abdullah did not turn up for the dinner though the UPA managers said not much should be read into it.

But clearly, the day had not exactly gone the UPA way. Shortly after JMM chief Shibu Soren declared the support of his five MPs — he met Congress president Sonia Gandhi this morning — the ruling combine received a rude jolt when the 3-MPs RLD led by Ajit Singh switched sides, announcing that it would oppose the UPA during the trust vote. So sure had the government been of RLD support that at a Cabinet meeting last week it even decided to name Lucknow airport after Ajit Singh’s father, the late Chaudhary Charan Singh.

Within hours of the RLD U-turn, the JD(S), also with three MPs, declared it too would oppose the trust vote. Just like Ajit Singh, JD(S) chief H D Deve Gowda announced his decision after meeting Mayawati who had a busy day in the Capital, chalking out plans with UNPA and Left leaders over lunch at TDP leader Yerran Naidu’s residence.

... contd.