Mamata loses top chair to CPI(M) in Delhi

In West Bengal, railway minister Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress is certainly taking away the political space of the mighty CPI(M). But last evening in Delhi, the CPI(M)’s Sitaram Yechury managed to elbow out Banerjee from her chair!

And this happened at one of the most coveted address of the capital’s political circle—Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s residence at 7, Race Course Road.

Yechury had arrived a little late for the iftar (post-Ramzan fast) party hosted by the Prime Minister. After making a back-door entry, Yechury was chatting with Union minister Jaipal Reddy and others. Suddenly, minister of state in the PM’s Office, Prithviraj Chavan, came and grabbed Yechury to make him sit at the table where the PM, Sonia Gandhi, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar were sitting. The UPA floor managers were busy ensuring no chair remained vacant at that table.

Soon after Yechury was welcomed by both the PM and Gandhi, there was a fuming female voice behind him: Banerjee had arrived and discovered her seat taken by Yechury.

It was not possible to get her a place at that table, so Banerjee, leader of the biggest ally of the Congress in the UPA, was accommodated at the adjacent table where Gursharan Kaur, Manmohan Singh’s wife, was sitting.

Home Minister P Chidambaram also had his allotted seat at the second table. After Banerjee sat down, insiders found Chidambaram spending much of the time standing or roaming around the venue.