Mamata returns Fernandes favour with Nangloi Jat meet

The killing of Ved Singh, the Samata Party candidate from the Nangloi-Jat constituency, and the subsequent allegations flung at the former Delhi Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma is said have created a rift between the two allies.

And Banerjee’s visit to Delhi, specifically to campaign for the Samata Party candidate Karan Yadav in his triangular contest with Mukesh Sharma from the Congress and Ramesh Tyagi from the BJP, was being seen as the beginning of new trouble for the Vajpayee Government at the Centre.

However, Banerjee trained her attack on the Congress: “We are the real Congress. We did not want to belong of a party which sacrifices the aspirations of its workers and the people for petty political strategies”.

She, however, raised the issue of price rise in her inimitable style: “Aloo, piayaz kya ashhman se topke ga (Potatoes and onions cannot fall from the skies)! If the government had taken the right steps three months earlier, the situation would not have come to such a pass. There has to be coordination between the Centre and the States”.

Banerjee had earlier requested Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to call a chief ministers meeting. But no heed was paid to her request. This is said to have upset her and led to her resignation from the Central Coordination Committee.

But Banerjee made sure that her campaign for the Samata Party candidate is not seen as a threat to the Vajpayee Government. “Hum sob hamara hok ke liya larenge (We’ll fight for our rights),” she said. She then went on to clarify who constitutes the `we’ in this case: “George from Bihar, Jaya (Jaitley) from Kerala, the Akali brother from Punjab, Hedgeji from Karnataka and I myself from Bengal are together to fight for our rights in a constructive way. Jo humse takraegya, chur chur ho jayenge (Whoever clashes with us will break into pieces)!”

Candidly admitting that she does not know the candidate personally, she said “I know George and the Samata Party well enough to ask you to vote for him.” There was an uncomfortable moment when Yadav said that someone had faxed a message to Banerjee claiming he was a goonda. The moment passed with Banerjee breaking into a sher in her Bengali Hindi.

The essentially non-Bengali crowd roared and cheered with her.