The three hours before Mamata called it quits

Town Hall is a favourite with the Chief Minister and she has chaired several high-level meetings here before.

In 1813,British architect Col. John Garstin built the Town Hall in Kolkata to provide Europeans with a grand place for social gatherings. Over the years,the imposing Hall with white Roman-Doric columns has been the venue of several important meetings. The latest was on September 18,2012,when Mamata Banerjee,Trinamool Congress chief and a key ally in UPA-II,sat closeted with her men before announcing her decision to pull out of the Congress-led government at the Centre.

By 4 p.m. on Tuesday,the backyard of the magnificent heritage building was teeming with people,mostly from the media. By 5 p.m.,Scorpios fitted with red beacon lights filed in. Every time a minister and his jumpy bodyguards got out,the crowd pushed and jostled. Halogen lamps,specially fitted for the occasion,lit up the backyard.

Town Hall is a favourite with the Chief Minister and she has chaired several high-level meetings here before. But this was an occasion that merited a special shamiana,equipped with pedestal fans and coffee machines for media persons. A raised platform had been erected for television news crew with cameras ready to beam out live proceedings of Mamatas Meet-the-Press.

Soon,Mamata drove in,in an i10 belonging to Urban Development Minister Firad Hakim,almost a shadow of the Chief Ministers in recent times. Everyone who attended the closed-door meeting with the CM that day could do so only after surrendering their cell phones against a token. Communication channels with the outside world were snapped. Only Mamata could announce if she was IN or OUT.

Outside,the media restlessly waited under the shamiana,worried about their prime-time slots slipping away without the breaking news. Inside the meeting room,Mamata Banerjee is said to have called individual members by their names,seeking their views on whether to pull out or stay put in the UPA. Most knew what Mamata wanted and argued in favour of a pull-out. There were the odd ones who argued against severing ties.

But as one Trinamool minister said later,Everyone knew Didis was the last word. We had a feeling that the three-hour debate on the issue of withdrawal of support was to give some more time for the Congress high command to respond. But evidently,they had their own game plan.

The core-group members of Mukul Roy,Subrata Mukherjee and Firad Hakim knew that Didis message to Sonia GandhiI cant agree to the reforms steps. Excuse mehad gone without a reply. It was a clear signal to the Trinamool top brass that the Congress high command was adamant this time round. This was one occasion when Sonia had not replied to

Mamatas message.

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Some top Trinamool leaders,however,said that there was always a hope that a communication from Delhi might reach them any moment and that might set the calculations afresh. But it was not to be. At 8.40 p.m.,Mamata came out of the meeting room followed by her core team,their faces sombre,tense. A hush descended on the shamiana as she began,With the blessing of Ma Mati Manush8230;