Mamata to meet Manmohan with anti-CPM menu
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee is on Monday set to place before the prime minister a set of demands meant to needle the West Bengal CPM .
By TNN |
NEW DELHI: Timing it with the Congress high command welcoming her decision to distance from the BJP-led NDA, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee is on Monday set to place before the prime minister a set of demands meant to needle the West Bengal CPM at a time when UPA-Left relations are on the verge of a breakdown over the Indo-US civil nuclear deal.
Ms Banerjee, who is in the middle of a `secular image make-over’ and urging the Congress leadership to take a clear anti-Left position to encourage the Trinamool Congress to consider a ‘home-coming’, is slated to meet Mr Manmohan Singh to seek firm action by the Centre to end the “CPM’s post-Nandigram terrorisation of farmers in West Bengal villages”.
She will also urge the prime minister to ensure that the CBI inquiry into the theft of priceless possessions, including the Nobel prize citation of Rabindranath Tagore, from Rabindra Bhavan museum in Santiniketan, will not be scuttled “under pressure from the Left Front government”.
The CBI team, which has been probing the 2004 incident of theft, completed its investigation last week amid Trinamool Congress’ allegation that the Left Front regime was attempting a ‘cover-up” as “some CPM cadres were involved in the case”.
“Mamata Banerjee has sought an appointment with the prime minister and is slated to meet him on Monday to raise the issue of CPM violence in West Bengal villages and also the issue of the CBI inquiry into the theft in Rabindra Bhavan museum,” a Trinamool Congress source told ET. Clearly indicating her preparation for a possible snap-poll, Ms Banerjee is also expected to seek the prime minister’s intervention to get an economic package for the revival of tea gardens in North Bengal. Ms Banerjee has already written a letter to Mr Singh, detailing her demands.
Meanwhile, the AICC general secretary in-charge of West Bengal, Margaret Alva has welcomed the decision of the Trinamool Congress to distance itself from the NDA. “I welcome the move,” Ms Alva said referring to Ms Banerjee’s statement in Kolkata last week that her party was trying to stand on its own in West Bengal.
Ms Alva’s comment welcoming Ms Banerjee’s move has come at a time when many senior Congress leaders, with an eye on the possibility of an early Lok Sabha poll, are advocating the need to get Ms Banerjee back into the Congress.
Ms Banerjee, who is in the middle of a `secular image make-over’ and urging the Congress leadership to take a clear anti-Left position to encourage the Trinamool Congress to consider a ‘home-coming’, is slated to meet Mr Manmohan Singh to seek firm action by the Centre to end the “CPM’s post-Nandigram terrorisation of farmers in West Bengal villages”.
She will also urge the prime minister to ensure that the CBI inquiry into the theft of priceless possessions, including the Nobel prize citation of Rabindranath Tagore, from Rabindra Bhavan museum in Santiniketan, will not be scuttled “under pressure from the Left Front government”.
The CBI team, which has been probing the 2004 incident of theft, completed its investigation last week amid Trinamool Congress’ allegation that the Left Front regime was attempting a ‘cover-up” as “some CPM cadres were involved in the case”.
“Mamata Banerjee has sought an appointment with the prime minister and is slated to meet him on Monday to raise the issue of CPM violence in West Bengal villages and also the issue of the CBI inquiry into the theft in Rabindra Bhavan museum,” a Trinamool Congress source told ET. Clearly indicating her preparation for a possible snap-poll, Ms Banerjee is also expected to seek the prime minister’s intervention to get an economic package for the revival of tea gardens in North Bengal. Ms Banerjee has already written a letter to Mr Singh, detailing her demands.
Meanwhile, the AICC general secretary in-charge of West Bengal, Margaret Alva has welcomed the decision of the Trinamool Congress to distance itself from the NDA. “I welcome the move,” Ms Alva said referring to Ms Banerjee’s statement in Kolkata last week that her party was trying to stand on its own in West Bengal.
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Ms Alva’s comment welcoming Ms Banerjee’s move has come at a time when many senior Congress leaders, with an eye on the possibility of an early Lok Sabha poll, are advocating the need to get Ms Banerjee back into the Congress.
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