Congress is a political party, not an NGO: Jairam Ramesh

Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh who fuelled speculation over what could be real status of the Congress-Trinamool ties on Sunday said his party would continue to speak its mind. “We are aware of the Lakshman Rekha,” he said.

Ramesh made these remarks after Mamata Banerjee’s tough talking saying that in case the Congress felt oppressed, it had to decide which camp it would be in.

Speaking at a panchayati raj conference here on Sunday, Ramesh said: “The Congress is a political party and not an NGO. We have not taken (political) sanyas here (Bengal).”

Ramesh said the Congress was (with Trinamool Congress) at the Centre as well as in West Bengal.

“We will not cross the Lakshman Rekha. But the Congress would not take unsolicited advice from anyone,” he added.

Apparently, Ramesh said all this to assert the Congress presence in the state but did not provoke the break Lakshman Rekha in front of Congress crisis manager Pranab Mukherjee who seemed “indifferent and ignoring”.

Sources said that when clash broke out between the Congress and the Trinamool last week, Mamata called up Mukherjee who later spoke to Pradesh Congress chief P Bhattacharaya. And Bhattacharaya told him the state congress had no wishes to break away from the alliance.