Fuel prices: Mamata Banerjee skips cabinet meets to deny responsibility

NEW DELHI: Ms Mamata Banerjee, who does not subscribe to the “collective responsibility” principle, appears to have made “plausible deniability” — keeping a safe distance from politically prohibitive decisions so that she can deny a role in it — her approach to governance. This should be reassuring for the government as it has reduced the possibility of important policy decisions hitting the Trinamool hurdle.

Contrary to speculation that Ms Banerjee will come in the way of decisions that are not in sync with her beliefs, the railway minister on Monday sought to employ the “deniability doctrine” to explain her absence from the EoGM that cleared hike in the prices of petro goods. “I did not attend the meeting because I did not want to give my approval to the decision,” she told reporters.

What must be more comforting for the government was the clear signal that she would not use her “veto power” to stall policy decisions. “Our party has 19 members and the government has 271 members. We are not a very big party but we can raise our voice. We can give our views but they ( Congress) are the major party. So they have to take a decision. I am not going to quarrel with the government because it won't look nice,” she said.

In her interaction with the media, the railway minister also said that she has no intention to kick up a row over the price hike issue. “I am unhappy with the decision. We do not support hike in the prices of diesel, LPG and kerosene. I had objected to this. But we don’t want to quarrel (with the government)....Government has our support and it will remain,” she said.

If Ms Banerjee’s response to the price hike is anything to go by, the allies may not erect obstacles before key policy matters. With the Congress acknowledging the primacy of allies such as Trinamool Congress and the DMK in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, there is expectation of greater cohesion in the alliance at the Centre.

Government leaders are confident of the DMK backing the next critical issue on the policy table— disinvestment. During UPA-1, the Left was successful in enlisting the DMK’s support for its obstructionist agenda.

Ms Mamata Banerjee cannot be expected to be on the same page on disinvestment. But she can always employ the “deniability” principle by staying away from the meetings that take up issues that she considers “anti-people”.