TDP echoes Mamata refrain

“Had the BJP-led coalition regularly consulted its partners, this (Mamata Banerjee quitting the Coordination Committee) would not have happened,” said a delegation of Trinamool MPs while reiterating that their support to the Government would continue.

In Calcutta, after a 90-minute meeting with Mamata, George Fernandes failedin his mission to persuade her to withdraw her resignation from the Coordination Committee. “It wasn’t my decision alone. I’ll have to consult the working committee of my party to review it,” she said in his presence. She added she hadn’t decided when to call this meeting.

Mamata was, however, “grateful” to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee for the “affection” he had shown her and the “concern” he had expressed over the price rise issue on which she quit the Coordination Committee. “The Prime Minister is a sensible man but he is a victim of circumstances,” she remarked. She also made it clear that she would not do anything to “disturb” the Government because people “did not want elections every year.”

In Delhi, meanwhile, after a Trinamool MPs delegation met him, Vajpayee said he was ready to convene a meeting of the allies’ panel on the price rise situation. But most of them were against such a meeting now as they were busy in state Assembly polls, he said.

The MPs met Home Minister LK Advani too. Though both Vajpayee and Advani tried personally to contact Mamata this morning, they did not succeed, leading to speculation that she was avoiding them.

Vajpayee requested the delegation to persuade Mamata to withdraw her resignation but Trinamool MP Sudip Bandopadhyay ruled that out. “When the Coordination Committee doesn’t meet regularly, nor is it convened to discuss a burning issue like price rise, what is the point of being in such a committee,” he said.

His sentiments were echoed by Akali Dal general secretary Prem Singh Chandumajra. “The issue of price rise is an administrative matter, and not something which pertains to policy formulation. Moreover, administrative steps have already been taken to bring prices down,” he said.

The three-member Trinamool delegation of Bandopadhyay, Nitish Sengupta and Ranjit Panja, also requested Advani to take the responsibility of coordination with allies or else appoint a small committee for the task. “Differences are widening becauseCoordination Committee meetings are not being held once a month as decided earlier,” they told journalists afterwards.

Asked why the Centre was not calling a meeting of Chief Ministers, as demanded by Mamata, Vajpayee said it was feared that the situation may be aggravated by the Centre and states blaming each other. However, the Trinamool delegation was not convinced by this argument. “My impression was that the Prime Minister did not imagine that prices could go so high,” Bandopadhyay remarked. “There seems to be a communication gap.”

Bandopadhyay and Panja recounted that since the past five months, Mamata had asked the Government a number of times to call a meeting of Chief Ministers on prices, stop export of potatoes and lift import duty on onions. Then she demanded a meeting of the Coordination Committee so that allies, especially those not in government, could freely exchange views on the subject. But the Centre did not act on the requests.

The delegation also raised the issue of closure ofeight sick PSUs, six of which are in West Bengal. They said that rather than offering employees the voluntary retirement scheme, it might be better to revive the PSUs.

Mamata alleged that there was a “conspiracy” against the Government. Fernandes joined her on this, complaining that “forces inside the country and outside” were out to destabilise the Government.