Congress President Sonia Gandhi drove to the race course of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and was closeted with him over discussions on how to tackle the threat to the Government caused by Trinamool's decision.
Home Minister P Chidambaram, Defence Minister A K Antony and Gandhi's political secretary Ahmed Patel were also present in the discussion. Earlier in the day, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia had a meeting with the Prime Minister.
Trinamool,the second largest constituent of UPA with 19 MPs last night decided to withdraw support to the government and pull out its ministers opposing the decision to hike diesel price, cap supply of subsidised LPG cylinders and allow FDI in multi brand retail.
It has set a deadline of Friday afternoon to reconsider its stand if the government rolls back its decisions.
Meanwhile, Mulayam Singh Yadav, leader of the 22-strong Samajwadi Party, whose support for government assumes importance in the current context, expressed opposition to Government's decisions but declined to reveal the party strategy.
"Tomorrow there is a meeting of the Samajwadi Party's Parliamentary Board. We will decide our strategy there," he told reporters here. (More)
