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TMC rules out compromise on Lokpal Bill 
Subhrangshu Gupta/TNS

Kolkata, January 1
Hardening its stand on the Lokpal Bill, UPA ally Trinamool Congress today ruled out any compromise on the Lokayukta provision and said the government should have faced voting in the Rajya Sabha.

“The Trinamool Congress is not going to compromise on the federal structure of the Constitution and amendments put forward by the party have to be accepted,” said Trinamool Congress general secretary and MP Mukul Roy.

He was reacting to yesterday’s statement by Home Minister P Chidambaram that the TMC demand for total deletion of the Lokayukta provision might not be easy to meet and that the government might accept one or two of its amendments.

Roy said the manner in which the Rajya Sabha was adjourned sine die without passing the Lokpal Bill did not augur well for democracy. “The government should have faced the voting,” he felt.

Roy claimed that MPs from Mamata Banerjee’s party had raised objections on the Lokayuta provision of the Lokpal Bill because there was an understanding with the government that Trinamool Congress’ suggestions would be taken care of before the Bill was moved in the Rajya Sabha.

Meanwhile, Congressmen today protested against Mamata’s reported move to take over ‘Indira Bhavan’ in Salt Lake and rename it after the revolutionary poet, Kazi 
Nazrul Islam.

The sprawling bungalow was named after the former Prime Minister, who had stayed there for a few days in 1971 during a session of the AICC. While Indira Gandhi stayed in a hut made of mud and straw, as desired by her, it was later built into a bungalow.

The then Chief Minister Jyoti Basu moved into the bungalow in 1987 and spent the last 23 years of his life there. While it was deemed to be the official residence of the CM, after Basu relinquished office, the CPM continued to pay a monthly rent to the state government for use of the bungalow.

While the CPM, which planned to convert the bungalow into a research centre named after Basu when the Left Front was in power, has also protested Banerjee’s move, the Congress has taken the protest to the street. “ Even when Jyoti Basu stayed there, there was no attempt to change the name,” pointed out CPM MP Md Salim. Mamata Banerjee herself has maintained a studied silence on the raging controversy, although a Congress cabinet minister in her cabinet, Manas Bhuinya, claims that the Chief Minister had dropped plans to rename the bungalow.

But Congressmen would like to hear it from the ‘didi’ herself. They have no problems with the bungalow being handed over to the Nazrul Academy but object to the removal of Indira Gandhi’s name from the bungalow.

The relationship between the allies has been uneasy all along; but the protests were generally muted and differences voiced in party fora. But Congressmen in the state have increasingly become strident in their criticism of the Chief Minister and the state government. Already party leaders like Adhir Choudhury have started declaring from party platforms that the party would contest the panchayat elections next year on its own.

(With PTI inputs)