Leave if you like, Mamata Banerjee tells Congress

The rift between Trinamool Congress and Congress took an ugly turn Saturday as chief minister Mamata Banerjee asked the Congress to leave her government if they wanted to and said she could manage alone.

State Congress leaders were shocked by Banerjee’s statement and most of the top state Congress leaders declined to comment, hinting that the emerging differences  could be sorted out. “Let’s not play it up,” a senior state Congress leader said. The state Congress president only said, “We are not thinking of quitting the government. We want to serve the people.”

At Writers’ Building an angry Banerjee spoke to reporters saying, “The Congress and CPI(M) are working together. If the Congress feels they can go with the CPI(M). My door is open. We can go on alone.”
She hinted that there were “signals from the party’s high command” to harass her because she opposed FDI in retail and opposed the party’s effort to interfere with the federal structure of the Constitution. 

“Congress interfered with federal structure by including Lokayukta in Lokpal Bill,” she said, implying that Congress’ open criticism and demonstration against her government actually had the party high command’s nod. “And that is the reason why they are carrying out a disinformation campaign against our government,” she said.

Banerjee also felt that Trinamool’s decision to contest assembly election from UP and Manipur has also left the Congress worried.
Incidentally, her stand over FDI in retail and Lokpal reached a climax when it coincided with her decision to rename Indira Bhawan. Banerjee decided to rename it after legendary poet Kazi Nazrul Islam. “They never protested when late chief minister Jyoti Basu stayed there during Left regime and made it CPI(M) office,’’ she said. Interestingly, last week she had lashed out at the Congress warning state Congress leaders that “despite their slamming us every day, I never used any strong words against either Manmohanji or Soniaji.”