Mamata gives govt one year
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Nov 16 — Mellowed by the growing political convergence between the CPM and the Congress, the otherwise fiery Trinamool Congress leader, Ms Mamata Banerjee, today gave a clean chit to the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, describing him as a “victim of circumstances” and kept her options open saying that she would review the government’s performance only after it completes a year.

Addressing mediapersons at a ‘face-the-press’ programme in the Press Club of India, Ms Banerjee said, “We want to see the performance of the government in a positive manner”.

Asked whether she was gradually distancing herself from the BJP, Ms Banerjee said, “It is a government run by the BJP with support from its allies. If we feel it is deviating from the National Agenda of Governance, it is our right to raise our voice. But in view of our promise to the electorate, it is out duty to see the government works in a positive manner.”

At the same time, she said the Trinamool Congress was not satisfied with the performance of the government but hastily added the Vajpayee government should not be judged on its performance for the first eight months alone as it has been busy establishing its infrastructure.

Initially, the Prime Minister did not have the proper feedback, she said adding that “cause of the failure is that the government did not take the right action at the right time”.

“When a new government comes in place, it has to establish its infrastructure and place its loyal people in the set- up”, Ms Banerjee said, adding, “their infrastructure was not up to the mark”. “The government has come for five years and we can’t ask it go away in seven-eight months”, she stressed.

On the issue of price rise, the Trinamool Congress leader said that Mr Vajpayee did not have the proper feedback and blamed the administrative machinery and the Economic Intelligence Committee for not informing the government at the right time.

She indirectly blamed the bureaucracy for the price rise as the Joint Intelligence Committee in the Prime Minister Office did not inform the government. “A conspiracy has been going on to topple the government”, she said.

In the same breath, Ms Banerjee asked “Why did salt disappear for a day? Who was responsible for it”, blaming the Opposition for it.

When asked whether she would withdraw support from the government if a temple was constructed in Ayodhya at the disputed site ahead of the court verdict, she said, “We will not allow..... If they do it, they have to face the music”. “We don’t want country to be divided on the community lines”.

On her relationship with the Congress, Ms Banerjee said that she has respect for the Nehru family but omitted to name the Congress President, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, individually when she took names of Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. “Before my expulsion from the Congress, I had asked Mrs Sonia Gandhi to take over the reins of the party”, she said.

Asked about the Congress-CPM relationship in the light of the Nehru Memorial lecture of the West Bengal Chief Minister, Mr Jyoti Basu, in New Delhi recently, Ms Banerjee said that earlier there was a memorandum of understanding between the two, then there was a joint venture and now the foundation stone was being laid of their relationship.