Trinamool will stay with UPA, keep Cong guessing

The Trinamool Congress will not hesitate to keep the Congress on the edge until the next Lok Sabha elections as its chief Mamata Banerjee appears set to play hardball on crucial issues, reminiscent of the role played by the Left during the first term of the UPA. Aurangzeb Naqshbandi reports.

The Trinamool Congress will not hesitate to keep the Congress on the edge until the next Lok Sabha elections as its chief Mamata Banerjee appears set to play hardball on crucial issues, reminiscent of the role played by the Left during the first term of the UPA.

Though Banerjee’s party has ruled out any move to rock the UPA 2 boat, it will continue to keep up the pressure on the Congress over the next two years.

Union minister and Trinamool general secretary Sultan Ahmed’s remarks said it all. “We are in the UPA and we will stay in the UPA, but at the same time, we will continue to raise our voice against anti-people policies and in the interest of the nation,” he said.

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Banerjee, who remained a minister in UPA 2 for two years, has become more strident ever since she took over as the West Bengal chief minister last May, dethroning the once-invincible Left Front that had ruled the state for 34 consecutive years.

Apparently, she is miffed with the Congress for not enhancing financial assistance to the cash-strapped state and also for “donning the role of the Left Front” in the state.

Banerjee soon decided to get back at the Congress and stonewalled the FDI in retail, Lokpal and pension bills, opposed hike in fuel and coal prices, the Teesta water pact and the Farakka barrage deal with Bangladesh before showing the red flag to the National Counter Terrorism Centre.