While maintaining that she was not trying to blackmail the government, the Trinamool chief said such frequent hikes were “unacceptable”.
Is Mamata Banerjee serious when she says the Trinamool Congress will pull out of the UPA-II if the government does not roll back the petrol price hike? Only time will tell. But for the record, prime minister Manmohan Singh justified the hike at a press conference in Cannes, France, after the G-20 summit, saying there should be further movement towards deregulating fuel prices.
“I think the move to decontrol the prices is a part of that process. But these are sensitive areas and I have no hesitation in saying ultimately we must allow the markets to find their own level except for those commodities which are semi-public goods,” Singh said.
Earlier in the day, Banerjee whose party, the Trinamool, is the second largest constituent in the UPA-II alliance at the Centre with 18 MPs, called an emergency meeting of her MPs at the Writers’ Buildings in Kolkata. After the meeting, she told the waiting media that the Trinamool Congress parliamentary party was in favour of pulling out of the government.
“They [Congress] may be a big party, and we may be a small party. But they do not have a majority of their own at the Centre. They are dependant on the support of the allies for survival,” she said.
While maintaining that she was not trying to blackmail the government, the Trinamool chief said such frequent hikes were “unacceptable”. “But the government may collapse if we withdraw our support. We want to discuss the matter with the PM when he returns from the G-20 summit. We have sought an appointment.”
Though she talked of meeting the PM before taking a final call, the Trinamool chief made it clear that her party did not need the Congress to run the show in West Bengal. “We are in power with a two-thirds majority and we are not dependant on the Congress.”
She said the Congress should remember that the government is a coalition one with the Trinamool, the DMK and the NCP being the main partners. “We take our partner [the Congress] in confidence while taking policy decisions in the state,” she said. “But the government [the Centre] unilaterally raised the prices of petrol, kerosene oil, LPG and even coal... We were not consulted. I kept quiet on many issues… For two years, I have tolerated this.”
Late at night, Banerjee said all her ministers have given it in writing that “they are ready to leave the government”. “They are not ready to accept this,” she said. “We can serve the people better if we stay outside.”
Having said that, can the Trinamool chief really pull out? The main task before her is to bring some semblance in Bengal’s faltering fiscal situation — one of her major poll promises to the people of the state that is burdened with a debt of Rs2 lakh crore. And to fulfill this promise she needs financial help from the central government. Though she has repeatedly sought finance minister Pranab Mukherjee’s help, he has not made any commitments till now.
While the Left termed her threat “hollow”, the BJP said UPA-II allies should make their stands clear. In political circles, Banerjee’s threat is being seen as an attempt to get the Centre to accept her demand for financial help.
(With Agency inputs)
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