PM faxes a face-saver for Mamata

CALCUTTA/NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 6: A faxed message from the Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee reiterating his earlier assurance that her dem...

CALCUTTA/NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 6: A faxed message from the Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee reiterating his earlier assurance that her demand for a rollback of the oil price hike will be considered after his knee surgery, provided the face-saver for the Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee.

A tame Mamata announced on Friday in Calcutta that she and the Minister of State for External Affairs Ajit Panja would rejoin the NDA Government with immediate effect following a `personal letter from the Prime Minister’ this afternoon. She had earlier announced that a decision on the resignations will be taken after the

Cabinet meeting on October 6.

At the Cabinet meeting held this afternoon — the last to be held before the PM flies down to Mumbai for the knee-replacement surgery — Vajpayee briefed his colleagues about the talks held so far with the Trinamool Congress chief. “The Prime Minister told the cabinet that he has conveyed to Mamata that the government was monitoring the international oil prices and that a second look would be given to the issue after his return from operation in two weeks time,’ Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan told newspersons after the meeting. He refused to elaborate on what he meant by “a second look.”

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Mamata tried to put up a brave front saying “future decisions will still be in our hands. If the government fails to keep its commitment we can always pull out”.

But at the same time the Trinamool Congress chief wanted to reciprocate and “respect” the assurance from the Prime Minister and wait for “appropriate action” which Vajpayee promised her in the letter. “We are human beings and there is no reason why we should not trust his words,” Mamata said.

A senior Trinamool Congress leader said, “it is the personal equation between the two leaders which helped resolve the crisis for the time being.”

Things were, however, uncertain till early this morning and the mood in the TMC camp was more indicative of a pull out from the NDA government. But first the PM’s telephone call and later the letter changed it all. As Mamata convened a meeting at her residence soon, her party colleagues argued: “If Vajpayeeji is trying to buy time, so do we. We can go for a truce on the basis of the assurance but the optiions will still be open with us if the government fails to act on it.”

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Meanwhile, the CPI(M) ridiculed Mamata’s decision to rejoin the NDA government. Said CPI(M) State Secretary Anil Biswas: “We knew that she will be back in the ministry from the very first day she put in her papers. Even her party colleagues knew about it. Stunt has been the trademark of her political career. It continues to be so.”