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Mamata Banerjee to Abstain from Trust Vote

  •   Mon, Jul 21 2008 04:53:03 PM

Indrani Roy Mitra/Rediff

Kolkata, Jul 21: Mamata Banerjee will abstain from the trust vote in New Delhi on Tuesday. The firebrand leader revealed this while addressing a rally in central Kolkata on Monday.

Generously punctuating her speech with popular poems and songs, Banerjee said: "The Trinamool Congress cannot afford to vote with the BJP or the CPI-M. Neither can we support the Congress."

Expressing her discontent over the nuclear deal controversy, the Trinamool Congress leader said the Congress should have taken the people's mandate before going ahead with the deal.

"If the prime minister were so keen on the deal, he should have waited for the people's approval and should have opted for an election."

Citing the reason for her abstaining from the trust vote, Banerjee said, "The Trinamool Congress' main agenda is to stand with the people. It, therefore, cannot vote along with forces like the CPI-M or the BJP. Ideologically, it can neither vote for the Congress."

"Therefore, in the interest of the people of this country, I have chosen to stay away from tomorrow's event."

"People of Bengal are known for their individuality. And the Trinamool Congress has always stood by it. Therefore, Bengal will not go to New Delhi to vote. Rather, it wants New Delhi to come to our land and feel the pulse of the people," she added.

Directly criticising West Bengal's Left Front government for its anti-people measures, Banerjee said the United Progressive Alliance government too has not paid attention to the woes of the common people.

"When the prices of essential commodities are going through the roof, the government should have focused on curbing inflation rather than stirring up the controversy over the nuclear deal. Now is not the time to discuss if the nuclear deal is to be signed or not, now is the time to stand by the poor people of India who are struggling to meet both ends meet," the Trinamool Congress leader said.

Banerjee's rally was attended by Somen Mitra, who left the Congress party on Saturday to float a new party, the Pragatisheel Indira Congress Dal.

For the first time on Monday, two anti-Left forces came together in a unified platform in Kolkata. If Prakash Karat and his team loses the trust vote on Tuesday, the unification of these two forces in West Bengal may pose a serious challenge to the red bastion.
  

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Comment on this article

  • A.D'Cunha Shenoy, Mangaluru

    Tue, Jul 22 2008

    Recent news in the headlines about potential payouts to MPs for votes reflects the currupt intent of politicians in a national issue such a a nuke "deal" which is crucial to the people of India. The abstainee politicians is altogether a different issue. They are in fact abstaining from the responsibilty.

    Even if UPA wins by simple majority, the trust vote, it is rather sad for the people of India. Barely a 50% is not an endorsement at all. The PM has done a huge mistake by pushing the deal through, a "personal one" I must say when there is no national consensus as a whole.

    How can prime minister govern the nation when he has basically ignored almost 50% of population by representaion. Can this prime minister have any credibility left. I wonder.

    DisAgree Agree Reply Report Abuse

  • C. Ferrer, Mangalore

    Tue, Jul 22 2008

    The logic of Mamata Banerjee is totally misplaced- to say that she is discontented with the nuclear deal but because the left, the BJP and some other parties too are going to vote against the deal and she is anti all of them, she is going to "abstain" in which case the UPA (read the Congress that she hates) will stand to gain.

    She may as well had said she is opting for the deal- but she wants to have her cake and eat it too. Firebrand she surely is but she should know that the person who does not vote is an idiot. The middle class of India who do not go and vote are today suffering because they did not cast their valued votes so they got a motley bunch in Parliament who are showing their true colours.

    DisAgree Agree Reply Report Abuse


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