By IANS,
New Delhi: A day after the Trinamool Congress quit the government, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met President Pranab Mukherjee Saturday evening to discuss the political situation.
“Yes, the prime minister met the president for 45 minutes,” a Rashtrapati Bhavan source told IANS. The meeting, which began at 5 p.m., was to discuss the political situation, he addded.
Six Trinamool Congress ministers resigned from the government Friday and the party met the president to inform him of withdrawal of support to the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition.
The UPA has been reduced to a working minority in the Lok Sabha after the Trinamool with its 19 MPs parted ways.
There is also talk of a reshuffle in the ministry with six berths having fallen vacant.
However, the government claims it has the support of over 300 MPs in the Lok Sabha.
The Trinamool quit the UPA in protest against the economic measures announced – namely FDI in multi-brand retail, hike in diesel prices, and a cap on subsidised cooking gas cylinders.
Minus the Trinamool, the UPA claims it has 254 MPs. The half-way mark in the 545-member Lok Sabha is 273.
The UPA has now got outside support of the Samajwadi Party (22 MPs), the Bahujan Samaj Party (21 MPs) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (4).