Mamata keeps studied silence on discord with Congress

Alleges media of launching 'orchestrated and motivated' campaign against her govt

PTI | January 20, 2012



Trinamool Congress and Congress, feuding alliance partners in West Bengal, have apparently decided to bury the hatchet after Mamata Banerjee on Friday kept a studied silence on the issue and Congress leader Sachin Pilot saying he hoped to work together and fulfil promises made to people.

Addressing a largely-attended panchayati raj convention of the party, Banerjee did not touch the sensitive subject contrary to everybody's speculation and instead targeted Opposition CPI-M and a section of the media for "launching an orchestrated campaign against her government" on various issues.

"The CPI-M, which has been rejected by the people in the election, has started criticising even before I took oath as chief minister. They have launched a motivated campaign against us when my government, which is in office for only eight months, is making untiring efforts to improve the situation," she said.

She alleged that a section of the media was also launching an "orchestrated and motivated campaign" against her government regarding hospital services and child deaths.

"People will see through this motivated campaign," she said.

The relation between the two alliance partners took a nosedive recently after a minor ministerial reshuffle when a minister of state, belonging to the Congress, openly criticised Banerjee's performance after being stripped of two of three departments of his portfolio.

Union minister Pilot said at a programme at the WBPCC headquarters here, "We are alliance partners, both at the Centre and in West Bengal and I hope we will continue to work together and fulfil our promises made to the people by implementing policies."

Pilot said the Centre would give adequate financial assistance to the West Bengal government to help it sail through the economic crisis and make the state prosperous and vibrant.

"The Prime Minister, Finance Minister and the entire Union cabinet are seized with the situation in the state and adequate finance will be provided to bring prosperity and development to West Bengal," he said.

Trinamool's top leaders who were present in the rally also did not politically combat an ally who, they had earlier alleged, was increasingly hobnobbing with arch rival CPI-M.

All the same, Banerjee, however, made a veiled attack on state Congress leaders who recently agitated against her government over the support price for farmers, saying it was the Centre which had fixed the support price for paddy and not the state.

She alleged that support price was fixed by the Centre with an understanding with the CPI-M.

She said that CPI-M was also up in arms over the issue as her government has decided to give money to the farmers through cheques for purchasing their produce.

"A section of the CPI(M) used to purchase the paddy directly from the farmers and give them half of the price for them. These leaders used to pocket the money thus earned for themselves and giving part of them to the party (CPI-M)," she said.

"That is why there has been so much uproar against us by the CPI-M over the support price issue," she claimed.

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