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New Delhi: The Congress party's desperation to prove its majority in parliament has made it vulnerable to bullying at the hands of smaller parties.
The party needs the support of at least 272 lawmakers to clear the floor test scheduled to take place on July 22, necessitated by the Left Front's withdrawal of support on the contentious Indo-US civil nuclear deal.
Although the party is putting on a brave face, asserting it has the necessary numbers to prove its majority, the smaller outfits seem to be exacting a high price.
The Congress party led-United Progressive Alliance (UPA) has 224 lawmakers on its own. With barely a week left for the floor test, it has thus far only 258 conformed votes in its favour, provided all 39 Samajwadi Party lawmakers vote for the government.
One of the UPA's constituents, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) with five lawmakers, has joined the ranks of the fence-sitters.
JMM president Shibu Soren yesterday said he would take a final decision on the issue on July 19 after consulting the other four lawmakers.
Soren, who is miffed with denial of cabinet post in the federal government, is reportedly ready to even join hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party and vote against the government if the BJP facilitates his return as the Jharkhand chief minister.
Soren's bargain
The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance has the numbers in the state to make Soren realise his dream of ruling Jharkhand.
The Congress party is thus left with the choice of either making Soren a federal minister or backing his designs in the state.
Likewise, the Janata Dal (Secular) of former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda and the Rashtriya Lok Dal of Ajit Singh, which have three lawmakers each, are also bargaining hard.
Long-term alliance
Gowda wants a long-term alliance with the Congress in his home state Karnataka, currently under BJP rule. This means, contesting the next general elections together and putting up common candidates for five assembly seats lying vacant in the state assembly.
Ajit Singh, on the other hand, wants a cabinet berth at the centre and the assurance that Congress-led UPA will allocate his party the minimum 10 seats that it had contested from western Uttar Pradesh in the 2004 general elections.
Singh had earlier come out in support of the nuclear deal, but became non-committal after the Left withdrawal of support with an eye on increasing his bargaining power.
The six independent lawmakers the Congress party is in touch with are also at various stages of bargaining.
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