Didi steps out, leaves door open

After a month of fruitless wrangling and rallying over the Eastern Railways bifurcation, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Bannerjee today pla...

After a month of fruitless wrangling and rallying over the Eastern Railways bifurcation, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Bannerjee today played her last card by breaking away from the NDA. But she left the doors wide open for the unexpected negotiator 8212; Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.

Announcing her party8217;s decision, Mamata said: 8216;8216;Our Working Committee today unanimously resolved that until and unless the Eastern Railways bifurcation issue is sorted out to our satisfaction, the Trinamool Congress will not be part and parcel of the NDA.8217;8217;

nbsp;	Bengal CM convenes all-party meeting	nbsp;
KOLKATA: Mamata Banerjee8217;s decision on staying out of the NDA forced the CPIM in Bengal to concede her earlier demand to the state CM. She had demanded 15 days ago that the Chief Minister call an all-party meeting to discuss the bifurcation issue. Buddhadev Bhattacharya today convened an all-party meeting for August 19. All parties, with MLAs in the Assembly and even the BJP which does not have an MLA, have been invited to send two members each to the meeting. ENS

Kolkata Mayor Subrata Mukherjee, however, said: 8216;8216;We are not entirely parting ways with the NDA. We will support the Government if it is in trouble.8221; Despite Mamata8217;s repeated emphasis on the unanimity of the decision, sources said she was forced to trudge the middle ground by a section of the MPs led by Sudip Bandyopadhyay who forced her to underline the willingness to return to the NDA if demands were met.

8216;8216;We will try to meet the Prime Minister on August 16 or 17, whenever he can give us time, and explain our position to him. I will tell that he is the Prime Minister of the country and not of a particular state,8217;8217; she said.

Later in the day, she wrote to the Prime Minister seeking time for a meeting. 8216;8216;Though she has attached a copy of the Trinamool resolution with her letter to the PM, Mamata has also written that she is staying back in Delhi with the hope that she will able to meet Vajpayeeji,8217;8217; party RS MP, Dinesh Trivedi said, adding that the BJP has requested them to reconsider the decision.

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But much more than the Prime Minister, the Trinamool seemed to be banking a lot on the surprise offer from the new V-P, who called Mamata in morning ignoring the fact that she and her MPs had abstained from yesterday8217;s voting. 8216;8216;He has offered to talk to any of my party members. But I will go to him myself,8221; Mamata added.

Sermonising on the dharma of partnership politics, she said: 8216;8216;In a coalition, politics is all about give and take. You have to consider the compulsions of all the small and the big partners. Now, they NDA have the numbers, they don8217;t need us. We may be small in Delhi, but back in Bengal we are the main Opposition party.8217;8217;