While senior party leaders and spokespersons have been officially maintaining that Yadav's sharing the dais with Sonia Gandhi was just a "courtsey" and nothing more should be read into it, there is a view in the party that Yadav's presence did manage to send a message.
"It is an important event. There is a message. Nobody should have the misconception that we can make the government fall," a party leader said speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Before the UP Assembly election that saw the Samajwadi Party coming to power with a huge mandate and Congress finishing fourth, there had been intense speculation that both parties could join hands to provide a cushion to the UPA government in the wake of Trinamool Congress' opposition to a number of key decisions taken by the Centre.
However, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal dismissed speculations of strains in Congress' ties with Mamata Banerjee and downplayed reports over the possibility of increased role for Samajwadi Party in UPA.
"Mamata ji is with us. She is fully with us. There is no question of any adjustment (problem)," Bansal said when asked whether SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav sharing the dais with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi at a UPA function yesterday is an indication of the two parties coming closer in wake of strains in Congress' ties with Trinamool Congress.
Insisting that nothing more should be read into it, Bansal said, "He (Yadav) is a senior leader. We asked him to take a seat at a proper place, which he accepted. That is all." (MORE)