Six more representation from TC in Union ministry; Mamata

KOLKATA: Shortly after taking oath as Union cabinet minister in the Manmohan Singh government, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee tonight said possibly there could be six more representation from her party in the Union council of ministers.

"There may be six more representation from my party into the union government," Banerjee told Bengali TV channel Star Anand at Delhi.

Without naming any party, Banerjee said "we did not go for bargaining over ministerial berth."

"We are taking over the ministerial responsibilities to serve the people," she said.

"Ministry is not a matter to us. We have no intention to go to the ministry to make money," the TC chief said.

She said her party would have demanded more ministerial berth if it wanted.

"As per ratio of MPs we could have got more ministerial berths compared to other partners in the UPA," she said.

Stating that TC was the second largest constituent in the UPA after Congress, Banerjee said that this would be largest representation from West Bengal in the Union council of ministry after a long time.
We want to serve the interest of the people and we would monitor utilisation of central funds properly in West Bengal, she said.

Pranab da (Pranab Mukherjee) will be with us to help us in this matter and we will do this from Delhi in the interest of West Bengal.

Asked whether she was taking the risk of having Railway ministry when populist measures had neglected the security of railways and also there was a global recession, Banerjee said since the prime minister had not yet announced the departments she would not comment on it.