Cong ministers quit Mamata govt

However,the six Congress ministers — Manas Bhunia,Abu Hena,Abu Naser Khan Chowdhury,Pramatha Roy,Sabina Yasmin and Sunil Tirke — who went to submit their resignations in the evening encountered a warm and nostalgic Mamata,who praised them for their performance and talked of old times.

Sabina Yasmin,who quit as MoS,Labour,said the CM offered them tea and biscuits during the 25-minute meeting. While she didn’t ask them to reconsider their move,the CM,Yasmin said,recounted the days of her struggle in politics. “She was quite nostalgic. We are leaving the government in a friendly environment,” Yasmin said.

Manas Bhunia,who quit as irrigation minister,added: “She told us she was happy with the performance of the Congress ministers. She also told us not to hesitate to call her if there was any problem.”

Later,led by Pradesh Congress Committee chief Pradip Bhattacharjee and Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader Md Sohrab,they handed over a letter on withdrawal of support to Governor M K Narayanan.

“The decision of withdrawal of support from the Mamata Banerjee government was taken at a meeting this morning. We submitted the letter of withdrawal of support to the governor. We will hold a legislative party meeting to discuss whether we will claim the status of principal opposition party in the state,” Bhattacharjee told reporters outside Governor House tonight.

Mamata left Writers’ Buildings without commenting on the development. Trinamool leader and state industry minister Partha Chatterjee said the Congress ministers submitted their resignation in a cordial environment and that the chief minister thanked them.

The Congress is the second largest party in the state with 42 MLAs,while CPM has 39 MLAs. The withdrawal of support by the Congress,however,poses no threat to the present government as Trinamool has 187 MLAs in the 294-seat Assembly.

Bhunia,who was irrigation minister,slammed the Mamata government saying: “We cannot support the way in which Trinamool,the second largest party in UPA II,withdrew support from the Centre only to help communal BJP and opportunist CPM. We had no other option but to withdraw support.”

Bhunia said his party would now be compelled to launch a “jihad” against the state government if any anti-people decision is taken.

“Despite having strong presence in the districts,the Congress had agreed to fight in only 65 seats in the last Assembly election because we wanted to end the CPM’s torture and misrule. We sacrificed a lot in West Bengal for the sake of the state’s development. But the way the Trinamool opposed all pro-people agenda of the Manmohan Singh government is unwarranted. We tolerated a lot but we cannot tolerate any more,” Bhunia said.

“The Prime Minister was working to protect the interests of the common people. Though Trinamool had the blessings of both the Prime Minister and UPA chairperson,it continued attacks against the Centre. Such attacks created instability at the Centre and communal BJP and opportunist CPM jumped into the fray to take advantage of the turmoil. When Trinamool had decided to pull out,we hoped that it would reconsider the decision. But we saw that Trinamool abandoned the government at the Centre when it was going through a complex time,” Bhunia said. “In such a situation,the state Congress cannot remain a silent onlooker.”