Zeenews Bureau
Kolkata: The Congress-Trinamool war of words reached a crescendo on Monday with Trinamool Congress holding a public rally against its ally.
The rally organised by Trinamool Youth Congress, party’s youth wing, aimed at protesting the “alleged Congress-CPI(M) nexus” in the state against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Terming Congress as a "shameless party", the Trinamool Congress bluntly asked its ally to choose its manner of exit from the alliance in West Bengal.
"If they want to stay with CPI (M) they can go. We have already said the door is open for them to go out, but still they have not left. They are so shameless that even after being asked to leave, they are still in the ministry," Trinamool leader and Rural and Panchayat Development Minister Subrata Mukherjee said.
"Some of them (Congress) are saying that the party does not exit from back door. We are telling that all the doors are open for them to go out," added Industries Minister Partha Chatterjee, another Trinamool leader.
Chatterjee asked the Congress to clarify whether it is with the Marxists or with the Trinamool.
"They are now shedding tears for the farmers. What were they doing for the last few years when we were fighting for the people on the issue of Nandigram, and Singur. Mamata Banerjee had fought all alone," he said.
Earlier, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had asked its partner Congress to walk out of the state combine, if it wanted.
Meanwhile, reacting to Trinamool’s comments, the Congress said that the decision to leave the government will be taken by its party high command and not by the Trinamool's leadership.
"Whether we will leave the state cabinet or not, it will be decided by our party high command. The day our high command asks us to leave the ministry, we will leave this ministry. We have not got ministries because of somebody's wish or help. We have got ministries because of Congress high command", Congress leader Manoj Chakraborty, who is minister of state for parliamentary affairs said.
Chakraborty reminded the Trinamool that the people of Bengal had voted in favour of the Congress-Trinamool alliance and not in favour of Trinamool exclusively.
The Congress-Trinamool ties have remained uneasy since Trinamool Congress took the Congress by surprise by opposing the Lokpal Bill, asserting that the bill seeks to “encroach upon the authority of states”.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s proposal to rename Indira Bhavan as Nazrul Bhavan has also irked the Congress.
Earlier sharp differences between Congress and Trinamool had emerged on the issue of FDI too.
The Trinamool is the second largest constituent of the UPA with 19 MPs in the Lok Sabha and six in the Rajya Sabha.
First Published: Monday, January 09, 2012, 09:35