Chandigarh, July 21
All efforts of the Congress to win back its Karnal MP Arvind Sharma have come to a naught.
According to information received here, Sharma met BSP supremo Mayawati at her Delhi residence late tonight.
Sharma, who had created jitters in the Congress by accusing it of misusing the CBI to persecute Mayawati on July 18, had met AICC president Sonia Gandhi yesterday after he was persuaded to do so. After this meeting, crisis managers of the Congress were confident that he would vote for the government on the confidence motion.
However, their confidence was shaken a bit when Sharma did not attend the dinner hosted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for UPA MPs last night. But they were still maintaining that he would not go against the party.
After keeping the Congress crisis managers guessing the entire day, Sharma opened his cards late this night when he called upon Mayawati at her residence and pledged his support to her.
It is likely that after voting against the confidence vote, Sharma may quit the Lok Sabha on July 23.
The same day a meeting of the BSP-UNPA combine has been convened to discuss the further strategy.
