While the two rebel Samajwadi Party (SP) MPs —Raj Babbar and Beni Prasad Barma — are keen to jump onto its ship immediately, the Congress has asked the two to wait.
Babbar, member of Parliament from Agra, will participate in a Congress rally in the city on October 5 to show his intentions but will “join the party at an appropriate time,” says a top central leader of the Congress.
A cautious Congress knows that for all practical purposes, the two rebel MPs will toe the government line in Parliament. However, their jumping the ship will further sour the relations between the SP and the Congress. The SP had expressed strong displeasure when some of its MLAs in Uttar Pradesh joined the Congress recently.
Sources say the government will also need the SP in the forthcoming Parliament session during which it intends to push a number of controversial Bills.
“If they join the Congress, the SP leadership may seek their expulsion under the anti-defection law. We need their votes in Parliament, so it is advised that these two leaders stick to their own party for the time being,” said a Congress general secretary.