Fresh blow to Sonia Gandhi! UPA's trump cards Mayawati, Mulayam support 'rival' Modi Govt

There was a time when Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) were the trump cards of the erstwhile UPA government when ever it came to clearing crucial legislations. Both the regional parties from Uttar Pradesh rescued the Manmohan Singh government to pass crucial bills. But gone are those days now.

Both the rival parties in the Hindi heartland of UP, have now switched their loyalites and decided to stay on the right side of the Centre. The parties have helped the Narendra Modi-led government pass the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Bill, 2015 in Rajya Sabha.

Modi government enjoys majority at Lok Sabha but it needs the support of opposition parties to get crucial bill passed in Rajya Sabha.

Crucial Coal and Mines Bill cleared in Rajya Sabha too

The crucial bill that provides legal framework for auction of coal blocks was passed by Parliament on Friday, replacing an ordinance that was to expire on April 5. The Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Bill, 2015 was approved by Rajya Sabha after several amendments moved by the Congress and Left were defeated, on the last day of the first half of Budget session.

The bill was passed with 107 members voting in favour and 62 against in the Upper 245-member House where the ruling BJP-led coalition is in a minority, indicating that some non-NDA parties back the government. Lok Sabha had already passed the bill on March 4.

However, the government was on tenterhooks till the Rajya Sabha cleared it as today was the last day of the first leg of Budget session and the ordinance was set to expire on April five.

Why this sudden shift in Maya-Mulayam's loyalty?

SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and BSP chief Mayawati have time and again proved themselves as Congress-led UPA government's most trusted lieutenants, when it mattered the most.

Despite political differences in their home state, both the leaders supported 'secular' Congress just to keep 'communal' BJP at bay. But, it seems their love for proximity towards Centre has overpowered their political rivalry with the BJP. Hence, they supported the NDA clear the coal and mines bill in the Upper House of the Parliament.

Right from the start of the Budget Session, speculations were rife that both Mulayam and Mayawati would support the Centre. Even PM Narendra Modi showed personal interest in keeping political and ideological differences aside when he showed a friendly gesture by attending Mulayam's grandnephew's 'tilak ceremony' in SP chief's ancestral village.

Even Mayawati, who is known for going all guns blazing against the BJP, hasn't been too critical about the Modi Government during the first half of the Budget Session.

The assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh are still far away, hence both the champions of UP politics can afford to show bonhomie with the Modi government and earn political dividends.

This clearly shows that the two parties, which were decimated by the BJP in the last year's Lok Sabha polls and left no stones unturned to attack the former, have decided to shift their loyalties to gain mileage from NDA's minority in Rajya Sabha.