The GTA, which replaced the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council formed in 1988, offered maximum possible autonomy to the hills under the central and state laws and Banerjee promised a package for the hills to push it on the road to development. The Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, 2011, was passed in the Assembly, in a step towards returning the land of the Tata Motors small car factory at Singur to unwilling farmers as stated in her party's election manifesto. In response to separate petitions by Tata Motors and its vendors, the Calcutta High Court ruled the Act as valid.
The matter is now pending before a High Court division bench. Banerjee, however, is sore with the Congress over inadequate help from the Centre to tide over the financial crisis bequeathed to her by the erstwhile Left Front government. "The Centre has not given me a single paise," Banerjee said on Friday referring to her government's plea for a financial bailout package. She had earlier threatened to walkout of the UPA after petrol prices were raised, then clarified that her party would pullout if there was a further hike in prices of petro products.
Banerjee's latest outburst came after the Youth Congress led by its state president Mausam Noor and Deepa Dasmushi, MP, led a silent procession from Hazra, near the Trinamool chief's Kalighat residence in protest against attacks on Congress workers and inaction of the police. The anti-government protest significantly was held in the Kolkata South Lok Sabha constituency where by-elections are scheduled on November 30 with Trinamool Congress candidate Subrata Bakshi, the Transport minister and CPI(M)'s Ritabrata Banerjee being the main contenders.
The Trinamool Congress chief was quick to question the choice of venue for the rally and to underscore that her party, the second largest constituent of the UPA, was not dependent on the Congress in the state, while her ally depended on her party at the national level. The Congress, on the other hand, has its own grouses. Recently a delegation, comprising MLAs, district presidents and PCC general secretaries, met Rahul Gandhi and Congress Working Committee member in-charge of West Bengal Shakeel Ahmed in Delhi.
They complained about partymen being attacked by the Trinamool Congress and the fight across the state over party offices deserted by the CPI(M). WBPCC president Pradip Bhattacharya told PTI "We are not indulging in anti-government activities. Congress workers are being attacked by the Trinamool Congress. We are only highlighting this." Pointing out that the Congress was a partner in the coalition government in the state, he said "We are a partner of the state government. We will remain so. Nobody had uttered a word criticising the Trinamool Congress. But we have not signed a bond that Congress will not agitate on its own." The Trinamool Congress chief, however, dismissed the Congress allegations and claimed that it was the Congress which was attacking her party workers in several areas in the state and allegedly killed a partyman at Gajol in Malda district on Thursday, which was strengthening the hands of the CPI(M).
The government's purported decision to shift a hospital on the lines of AIIMS from its proposed site in Raigunj, a Congress stronghold, to Kalyani in Nadia district, has also not gone down well with the ally. A section of the state Congress was also pressing the national leadership that the party should go it alone in the next year's panchayat polls and plan a stir against the state government's reported decision to entrust bureaucrats to take up development work in panchayats. Also with the Trinamool Congress lobbying for a coordination mechanism in New Delhi, WBPCC leader Abdul Mannan told PTI a similar body should be formed in the state.
In yet another step in fulfilling her election promise, Banerjee thrice visited Maoist-hit junglemahal and announced a slew of developmental programmes for the local people, especially tribals. For the first time, the Chief Minister also formed a committee of interlocutors to negotiate with the ultras in a bid to bring them to talk to the government. Peace, however, eludes the three Maoist-hit districts of West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia with a number of Trinamool Congress workers being killed by the insurgents, prompting the Chief Minister to order resumption of operations by the joint security forces. To make matters worse, a prominent Maoist leader Akash rejected the temporary truce between the government and the ultras and the interlocutors expressing willingness to resign. Banerjee, however, met the interlocutors yesterday and persuaded them to continue.
In a sharp rebuttal of Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee's stern message to the Congress to decide whether it wanted to continue the alliance with her party, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Sunday said his party had no need for advice from other political outfits.
Cong hasn't taken VRS in West Bengal: Jairam
20 Nov 2011, 5:21PM IST| Duration: 00:57
Addressing a Panchayati Raj sammelanconvened by the Congress, the union rural development minister stressed the need for coordination between the United Progressive Alliance government at the centre, of which the Trinamool Congress is a part, and the Trinamool-led government in West Bengal.
"We will work as a political party. We have our government at the centre and also an alliance government in West Bengal. If there is coordination between the state government and the central government it will be good for both the centre and the state. Congress doesn't need any advice from others. We know our duties and responsibilities both as ruling party and as opposition party," said Ramesh.
Ramesh reiterated his Saturday night comment that the Congress has not taken "VRS in the state".
On Friday, West Bengal Chief Minister Banerjee had served a fresh ultimatum to the Congress asking it to "Decide whether you want to stay with us or not" after the youth Congress brought out a protest rally in the city against alleged attacks on party workers by Trinamool activists.
Banerjee had said her party was not dependent on the Congress to run the state government.
While the Congress-led UPA government in New Delhi needs the support of the Trinamool to retain its majority, the Trinamool has a huge majority of its own in the state assembly.
Ramesh, however, promised all support to the state in rural development programmes.
"As rural development minister, I am ready to give all support to West Bengal in the area of rural development. We will help to build a new rural environment in rural Bengal by helping you in making schools, buildings and other necessary infrastructures for development," said Ramesh.
Earlier this month, on the issue of repeated petrol price hikes, Banerjee had threatened that her party - the second largest partner in the UPA - would not stay with the central government and demanded a roll-back.
The relations between the Congress and the Trinamool has deteriorated of late following each partner roping in dissidents from the other, and the death of a Congress woman worker in police firing.
The Youth Congress procession has particularly irked Banerjee because it traversed a portion of the South Kolkata parliamentary constituency which is slated to hold bypolls Nov 30 after the chief minister vacated the seat.
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Cong will speak its mind on Bengal affairs: Ramesh
Kolkata: In the continuing war of words between Congress and Trinamool Congress, the two ruling allies in West Bengal, Union Rural Development minister Jairam Ramesh on Sunday defended his comment that Congress had not taken a VRS from the state and said it would continue to speak its mind on the state's affairs.
"Congress is a political party and not an NGO. We have not taken (political) sanyas," Ramesh said at a panchayati raj conference here amid cheers from party workers who thronged the venue, Netaji Indoor Stadium, in large numbers.
"We have been in political power at the Centre and in some states. The Congress is the only party whose flag flies in all villages of the country. We are in the opposition in some states. In Tamil Nadu, we have been in the opposition for 40 years, but our party flag flies high there," he said.
Ramesh said Congress was (with Trinamool Congress) at the Centre as well as in West Bengal. "We are aware of the Lakshman Rekha. We will not cross the Lakshman Rekha. But the Congress would not take unsolicited advice from anyone."
Ramesh said if there was good relation between the Centre and the states, it would be good for both of them to function.
The minister, who reportedly negotiated for the crucial Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation Bill that was tabled in Parliament sometime back, met Mamata recently to discuss the finer points of the bill.
Mamata had opposed a previous version of the bill in the past.
Party insiders said Mamata was upset over Ramesh's remark which he first made in Jhargram while on a tour of West Midnapore district on Saturday.
The sources said Ramesh, who was accompanied by the minister of state for rural development and Trinamool leader, Sisir Adhikary, during his tour had sought an appointment with Mamata for on Sunday through Adhikary, but she expressed her inability, saying she would be pre-occupied.
Mamata had slammed the Congress for taking out an anti-government rally from Hazra near her residence in South Kolkata on Friday.
Pranab Mukherjee, who spoke first at the panchayat convention today, however, did not utter a single word on the spat between the two allies except for a muted criticism of the state government's decision to delegate more powers to bureaucrats allegedly bypassing the elected representatives.
"The decentralisation of power is necessary for carrying out the development. But it cannot be done only through officers," Pranab said.
However, state Congress leaders in the presence of Pranab Mukherjee one after another lashed out at government policies and criticised Mamata, without taking her name, for allegedly trying to marginalise their party in the state.
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