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Despite Bharatiya Janata Party chief K Jana Krishnamurthy's categorical assertion that there is no question of the Trinamul Congress returning to the National Democratic Alliance, there are indications that the doors have not been completely slammed shut for it.
The most visible indication came from Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan on Sunday, when he virtually expressed satisfaction at the Trinamul Congress being humbled in the polls in West Bengal by the Left Front.
On whether there was any possibility of Mamata Banerjee's party returning to the National Democratic Alliance fold, Mahajan made a few derogatory references against the Trinamul's exit from the NDA but emphasized, "I am not saying that it (Trinamul) will not return to the NDA."
"NDA leaders were certainly not pleased when the Trinamul made the mistake of leaving it. Today, the Trinamul leadership probably realises how costly it was to break away from the ruling coalition at the Centre. But there are glorious uncertainties in the game of politics and no scheme of things, however improbable, can be ruled out. At the moment, that is all that can be said about Trinamul reuniting with the NDA," Mahajan told reporters.
The apparent hesitation by the NDA leadership pertaining to sticking to its position of keeping the Trinamul out of it emerges from the hard reality that the principle Opposition party -- the Congress -- is poised to launch an all-out assault against it.
A resurgent Congress has recaptured power in Kerala, and Assam and retained it in Pondicherry, which is providing the NDA leadership considerable food for thought.
What has constrained the NDA leadership to keep its option open regarding the Trinamul's possible return to its fold is its party MP Krishna Bose asserting that there was no possibility of the party splitting.
Bose criticised rebel Trinamul MP and former minister of state for external affairs Ajit Kumar Panja for virtually revolting against party chief Mamata and trying to throw in his lot with the NDA leadership.
Panja has written to Lok Sabha Speaker G M C Balyogi requesting him to allot a seat among the NDA benches in the House.
Panja subsequently met Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Union Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani, after which media reports appeared that Trinamul Lok Sabha members, Krishna Bose, Nitish Sengupta and Bikram Sarkar were likely to cross over to the NDA camp by splitting the Trinamul.
However, Bose's assertion about her party not splitting and the Trinamul MPs fully supporting Mamata's leadership could have thrown a spanner in the works of the NDA leadership and compelled it to have a rethink about re-establishing links with Mamata.
Vajpayee has unfurled the NDA's strategy to woo more MPs from among 'pliant sections' of the Opposition.
Recent media reports have stressed that the parties being targeted by the NDA leadership for wooing MPs, among others, are the Rashtriya Lok Dal of Ajit Singh, the Bahujan Samaj Party of the Kanshi Ram-Mayawati duo and the nine-member Democratic Party Forum spearheaded by Pappu Yadav.
"What can you say about the petty-minded attitude of NDA leaders who are spreading all kinds of canards against their political opponents? It is typical attitude of communal forces," said senior Congress leader Motilal Vora while commenting on the NDA's attempts to woo MPs from the Opposition camp.
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