By IANS,
Kolkata: Hours after West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee told alliance partner Congress that it was free to leave, the state Congress retorted that they were not bound to follow her orders and would continue in the ministry.
State Congress president Pradip Bhattacharjee said: “We will stay in the ministry, we are not going to leave it. We are there because of the blessings of the common man. We are not her (Banerjee’s) subjects so we are not bound to follow her orders and fulfill her wishes.”
Banerjee had told the Congress that if it wants to go with the Marxists “the door is open” and termed the protests of the Congress against her government an act of vengeance as the Trinamool had opposed various policies of the central government.
“Congress is not afraid of anybody. The day common man wishes us to step down from the ministry we will do so. It doesn’t make any sense at all that in order to fulfill her wish we will leave the state ministry, we are there because of the common man,” said Bhattacharjee.
Mamata’s party Trinamool Congress, which is a major constituent of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) with 19 members in the Lok Sabha and six in the Rajya Sabha, has played a consistent spoiler to major policies of the centre, starting from foreign direct investment in retail to Lokayukta clause in the Lokpal bill.
“If she want us out let her throw us out. Whether we will leave or not it will be decided by the high command. The difference between us and Banerjee is that we want to establish the alliance and she wants to establish herself,” said Arunavo Ghsoh, state Congress leader.
The Trinamool is running an alliance in the state with the Congress – though it is not dependent on the party, and has repeatedly reminded the Congress leadership in Delhi to follow its dictum or face the consequences.
“She has said that Trinamool will fight alone. Can you cite an instance when Trinamool has fought an election alone; it has either tied up with BJP or with Congress. If she wants to go alone then the ball will be in her court,” said Om Prakash Mishra, state Congress leader.
The Congress-Trinamool ties have remained uneasy since Banerjee joined the UPA after the 2009 Lok Sabha election.
She has bitterly opposed and blocked some of the key policies and bills of the UPA government, including the anti-corruption Lokpal bill.
The current provocation for the uneasy ties between the two partners was the West Bengal government’s proposal to rename a building named after late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Banerjee wants the Kolkata-based Indira Bhavan – where Indira Gandhi stayed in 1972 – to be named after revolutionary poet Kazi Nazrul Islam.