Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Is Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee making a comeback to the Congress?
The oft-repeated question did its round in political circles once again today after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh requested her to join his Cabinet.
Singh suggested this to Mamata while she was criticizing the Left Front government, saying it had become bankrupt and development had almost come to a halt in the state.
‘‘Why don’t you join the Cabinet? The problems you are mentioning can be best solved if you are in the Cabinet. In fact we are missing you,’’ the Prime Minister told the Trinamool chief. Defence Minister and West Bengal PCC president Pranab Mukherjee was also present at the meeting.
Mamata, however, turned down the offer. ‘‘We are still opposing the Left while your Government is dependent on their support. I can not accept your offer because it’s not possible for me to share the same platform with the Left,’’ Mamata shot back.
It may be recalled that in a development that set political tongues wagging in the state, Mamata had last month met Pranab Mukherjee at his house in Delhi and both of them had called it a courtesy call.
Several Trinamool leaders said that while it is not very conducive for Mamata to re-join the Congress, nothing is impossible in politics. There is considerable pressure on Mamata from her own partymen to shun BJP and go for an alliance with Congress for the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) election scheduled in June.
