Trinamool quits government, ends support to UPA

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New Delhi, Sep 21, 2012: All six Trinamool Congress ministers Friday resigned from the government and the party withdrew support to the UPA, three days after it said it was quitting the alliance over economic reforms.

Railway Minister Mukul Roy and five ministers of state called on the prime minister and submitted separate resignation letters. The meeting barely lasted five minutes. Trinamool leader Sudip Bandopadhyay, who was the minister of state for health, quoted the prime minister as saying that he was "sad" the Trinamool was leaving the Congress-led government.

 

From the prime minister’s residence, the ministers drove to Rashtrapati Bhavan and handed over to President Pranab Mukherjee a letter ending the party’s support to the UPA government.

The Trinamool has 19 members in the 545-seat Lok Sabha.

Saugata Roy, the minister of state for urban development in the UPA government, told reporters at the forecourt of Rastrapati Bhavan that the letter of withdrawal of support to UPA was signed by Mukul Roy.

"We thank both of them (prime minister and president) for accepting our letters," Saugata Roy said.

Asked what Manmohan Singh told them, he said: "What the prime minister had said or not said to us is confidential information between the prime minister and the just resigned ministers."

Banerjee had Tuesday said her ministers would leave the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government unless it reversed its decisions on capping cooking gas cylinders, allowing FDI in multi-brand retail and hiking diesel rates.

The exit of Trinamool from the UPA government comes after nearly two years of troubles in their relationship. The government has said that the fresh set of economic polices were vital to kickstart a sagging economy. The Trinamool says these policies would cause widespread ruin.

 

Courtesy: Deccan Herald

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Congress ministers to quit Mamata ministry Saturday
Kolkata, Sep 21: With union ministers belonging to the Trinamool Congress resigning Friday, the Congress said its ministers in the West Bengal government will put in their papers Saturday.

 

"All the Congress ministers in the West Bengal cabinet will assemble before Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Saturday evening and hand over their resignations to her," state irrigation minister and Congress leader Manas Bhunia told IANS.

"I contacted the chief minister’s secretariat for an appointment with her for handing over our resignations. We have been allotted time at 5 p.m. on Saturday," he said.

State Congress President Pradip Bhattacharya had Friday announced the party’s decision to quit the Banerjee cabinet.

Asked whether it implied that the alliance between the Trinamool and the Congress in the state was over, Bhattacharya replied: "Effectively, yes. The alliance is collapsing".

Having 42 members in the 294-member state assembly (two more than the Communist Party of India- Marxist’s 40), the Congress may also stake a claim to the post of the leader of the opposition presently held by CPI-M’s Surjya Kanta Mishra.

The Congress is the junior partner in the Trinamool-led West Bengal government with six ministers - two cabinet and four ministers of state.

Miffed over the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government’s decisions over hike in diesel price and foreign investment in multi-brand retail, Banerjee Tuesday announced that the Trinamool Congress was withdrawing support to the UPA government.