Mission Mamata fails, George returns

Fernandes, who rushed to Banerjee’s residence last night and discussed the issue with her and Panja, didn’t divulge to the reporters what transpired in the meeting.

Later, at the Kewratal cremation ground in Calcutta to attend the funeral of Netaji’s nephew Sisir Bose, Banerjee told reporters: “In my meeting with Fernandes, I conveyed my sentiments that if the people are hurt we (the Trinamool Congress) are also hurt. Our protest is for the people.”

Banerjee denied any knowledge of the arrival of another emissary from the Prime Minister’s Office amid speculation that a senior official is expected to fly in from Delhi.

When asked what her plans are as the Prime Minister is not accepting her resignation, she shot back: “What could we do? We cannot accept the decision to hike the prices of the petroleum products which will hit the common man.”

When asked if the other NDA partners, who may not be happy with the hike, spoke to her, she said: “I cannot speak for others, I can only speak for my party.”

But by ruling out any rollback of the increase in prices of petroleum products today, the BJP left little scope for her to withdraw her resignation. “The Government has already passed the minimum possible burden to consumers while announcing the hike,” BJP vice-president Jana Krishnamurthy told reporters after the party’s national executive meeting in New Delhi, while ruling out even a partial rollback.

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee too dropped similar hints by avoiding a direct reply to a question whether Banerjee would withdraw her resignation. He hoped that the Trinamool Congress would continue support to the NDA Government at the Centre.

“We are talking to her and we hope to get continued support of her party,” Vajpayee said after the meeting. Conceding that Banerjee was present in both the NDA coordination meeting and the Cabinet meeting which decided the hike, Vajpayee said that though she had a different opinion in some matters, she went by the consensus.

Krishnamurthy appealed to Banerjee to understand the compulsions behind the decision to hike the prices of petroleum products. “The Government took this decision after a detailed discussion in the Cabinet and in the NDA Coordination Committee meeting. We appeal her to look at the context in which the decision had been taken”, he said.

There, however, was no discussion in the national executive on the political situation in West Bengal arising out of Mamata’s resignation, Krishnamurthy confirmed.