Miffed Mamta spurns PM

CALCUTTA, JAN 16: Her voice trembling with anger, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee today announced that her party would not join ...

CALCUTTA, JAN 16: Her voice trembling with anger, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee today announced that her party would not join the Union Cabinet 8220;sacrificing our self-respect.8221;

And then, in a typical Mamata afterthought, she said: 8220;I8217;ll reconsider joining the Ministry only if they the Government show us respect. As of now, it8217;s off.8221;

That Mamata would resent the deferment of the Cabinet reshuffle was pretty much expected but what provoked her today were two things: BJP chief Kushabhau Thakre8217;s statement that her party wouldn8217;t get the Railways Ministry and Railways Minister Nitish Kumar8217;s veiled criticism of her demand when he said that she had no reason to complain.

Even for the local media, all too familiar with her mercurial temper, today8217;s outburst was quite out of the ordinary.

8220;Thakre and Nitish Kumar have insulted us,8221; she said as she tore into the BJP Government. 8220;What do they take us for?8230; They care nothing for us. When we recommend transfers and promotions of Bengaliofficers, they do nothing. They never thought it fit to appoint an eminent Bengali for a Governor8217;s post. This Government is a Bengali-hater. They8217;ve thrown our Bengal package into the dustbin.8221;

Reacting to this, State BJP chief Tapan Sikdar said: 8220;These are the tantrums of a mad woman.8221; Not exactly conciliatory, indicating that relations between the BJP and the Trinamool in the state are heading towards war.

While her loyal colleague Sudip Bandyopadhyay questioned Thakre8217;s right to 8220;interfere8221; in Ministry-making 8220;which is the Prime Minister8217;s prerogative,8221; Mamata pilloried Nitish: 8220;This same Nitish Kumar had opposed me when I supported P M Sayeed8217;s candidature for the Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker8217;s post,8221; she told a crowd of reporters at her south Calcutta home.

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She had booked her ticket for a flight to New Delhi tomorrow following urgent summons from Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and was scheduled to meet him on Sunday evening. But all that is apparently stalled for now.

She recalled thather party was the first of the BJP8217;s partners to meet the President and offer unconditional support to the Government. 8220;We did it even before the Telugu Desam. But even Telugu Desam is getting things for Andhra Pradesh. But we haven8217;t got anything.8221;

In her uncontrollable fit of anger, she drew parallels with ministerial fortunes of Bihar and Orissa to illustrate how Bengal had been discrminated against. 8220;Even Bihar and Orissa can get good portfolios like Finance Yashwant Sinha, Railways Nitish Kumar, Coal Dilip Roy and Steel Naveen Patnaik. But when it comes to Bengal, they have only Civil Aviation and Surface Transport to offer.8221;