Panja, Mamata patch-up likely

KOLKATA: Is the ice melting between Ajit Panja and Mamata Banerjee? Signals from the Panja camp on Wednesday suggest that it may well be so.
“Talks between the two leaders can take place only after the March 15 status quo ante is restored,� said a source close to Panja.
On March 15, 2001, Mamata and Panja resigned from the NDA Cabinet in the wake of the Tehelka scam.Sources close to Panja said that given the changed circumstances, the two may not be after all unwilling to sit together.
Apparently, the PMO is also eager that the two let bygones be bygones and move ahead.
Insiders pointed out that Prime Minister’s emissary Vijay Goel was entrusted with the task of getting the two together. Goel had recently visited Banerjee and it was during this meeting that he floated the formula that “Mamata and Panja should try to patch up�.
The Trinamul camp, however, has interpreted the restoration of status quo as Panja’s demand to return to the NDA Cabinet. This suits Banerjee well, they argue. With all the MPs eager to become ministers, the Trinamul supremo is beseiged with dissention in the Parliamentary Party.
Building bridges with Panja and paving the way for his ministership will be a facesaving formula.
Banerjee has realised that the numbers do not stack up for her, pointed out Panja. “At last she has got her mathematics right. The Vajpayee government faces no crisis even if she quits on some pretext along with the TDP,� Panja told TNN.
“The face-off between Mamata and myself boiled over simply because I attended the Prime Minister’s public meeting at Kamarhati before the Assembly elections,� Panja explained.