Didi’s combative mode upsets Cong high command

While in earlier instances,party leaders and union ministers called the chief minister directly to mend fences,this time there was no such attempt,senior Congress leaders said.

“She does not have many well-wishers in the party and after what she said yesterday,even that number will reduce. It has not gone down well with the prime minister and the party,” a Congress Working Committee member told The Indian Express over the phone.

Sources say Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee,who had come down to Kolkata to discuss the financial package with the chief minister,is also upset with her approach.

A Congress MP said the CM did not even take along state Finance Minister Amit Mitra when she went to Raj Bhavan to meet Mukherjee. When Mamata was making her point to media,Mukherjee left through another gate.

Sources said the Trinamool Congress delegation that met the prime minister complained that Mukherjee had not done enough for the financial package.

Congress MPs from Bengal did not try to hide their disappointment over the Trinamool’s stand. “If she is against the policy of the UPA government,then she should quit,” said Congress MP Deepa Dasmunsi.

Dasmunsi said it is not new for the Trinamool Congress chairperson to resort to pressure tactics and this time she is pressuring the government for a financial package.

Mausam Benajir Noor was equally forthcoming. “If the Trinamool says it is disappointed with the way the Centre is functioning,we have to say we are more disappointed with the state government,” Noor,who is also state Youth Congress president,said. She was referring to alleged attacks on Youth Congress representatives. And while the Trinamool wants better coordination with the Centre and more involvement in the decision-making process,Congress leaders are making similar demands at the state level.

“Trinamool should not forget that we have a pre-poll understanding. The principle of responsibility and reciprocity applies to both sides. We are junior partners at the state level and they are junior partners at the central level. Consultation and coordination are required at both ends,” Congress’s Om Prakash Mishra said.

“I do not think Trinamool can withdraw at this point. They want us as much as we want them,” says MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.

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