NEW DELHI: The 20-odd Congress MPs were finding the going tough on Friday afternoon. With hardly any major non-NDA party joining their ranks, the protest in Lok Sabha was running out of steam.

But there was no scope for retreat. A determined Congress chief Sonia Gandhi kept a stern lookout from her front-row seat and so her party MPs valiantly held up outsized placards and hoped for the best.

Congress leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjuna Kharge beckoned Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary – the MP who had earned a day’s suspension earlier in the week – and handed out some cloves. The traditional remedy might keep voices supple but it

may not be enough to sustain protests with Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and the government switching tactics and insisting on proceedings despite the disruptions.

To the dismay of Congress MPs, more than the usual 20 MPs had their say during zero hour and the volume of the protests failed to drown out the House microphones.

At Congress’s meeting of party MPs on Friday morning, most speakers, sensing the mood of the leadership, pitched for continuation of protests. It was, however, decided that home minister Rajnath Singh be allowed to make a statement on the Gurdaspur terror attacks. This move, too, seemed to backfire as Singh went on give what Congress called a political speech, blaming UPA’s “lax” security policies while Kharge had to wait till afternoon to have his say.

Congress, lacking in lung power, sought some help from Trinamool Congress that has a well-earned reputation for bringing the House down with redoubtable talents like Kalyan Banerjee in its ranks.

However, Trinamool has watched but not risen. Efforts of Congress leaders to urge Trinamool to jettison its neutrality and lend its powerful voice to the protests failed to move the West Bengal contingent.

The small Samajwadi Party group in Lok Sabha has clearly charted a different path with party boss Mulayam Singh Yadav making no secret of his view that he did not support Congress’s demand that foreign minister Sushma Swaraj quit over the Lalit Modi episode.

The larger regional blocs, like BJD and AIADMK, have voiced their demand that the government take the initiative to break the logjam but this has brought little succour to Congress and these parties did not join the protests either.

The government has now called an all-party meeting on Monday but going by the animosity in the House, the prospects of a rapprochement are bleak.

