Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee remained incommunicado throughout the day on Monday in the wake of the bribery charge against former Union Minister of State for Environment Dilip Singh Judeo. Her close aides said she was relieved on hearing about Judeo’s resignation and the Prime Minister’s acceptance of it. The Trinamool leader, however, told her close aides that such repeated bribery charges against BJP ministers have become a major irritant to her in state politics where she pitches herself on a moral high ground. The party was almost in a similar situation in March 2001 when Mamata quit the Union Cabinet in the wake of the Tehelka disclosures. She had also demanded the resignation of Union Defence Minister George Fernandes. Her subsequent alliance with the Congress in state Assembly elections proved to be a disaster and she had to fall back on Fernandes to retrieve her lost position. Though she was reinducted into the Union Cabinet, she doesn’t have a portfolio which is resulting in a serious loss of face for her. It has been taken as an indication of her diminishing clout in the NDA. ‘‘It’s a new case and it stands out on its own,’’ said Pankaj Banerjee, the West Bengal Trinamool Congress spokesman. ‘‘We are happy that Judeo has already tendered his resignation and the Prime Minister has readily accepted it. It sends the message that the BJP wants to keep its track record clean,’’ he added. As expected the CPI(M) leadership in the state came out vehemently against the BJP government with state secretary Anil Biswas saying: ‘‘We had long ago described the BJP as a corrupt government.” A state Congress spokesman said it was a shame that the Trinamool Congress continues to be a partner of such a corrupt alliance.
