Furious at being dumped, Congress refuses reconciliation with Mamata's Trinamool

Congress leader Jagdambika Pal on Friday slammed Trinamool Congress for not acting as a responsibly ally in the UPA coalition and held Mamata Banerjee personally responsible for trying to destabilise the government.

"We took them as our ally and the Congress party performed the duties of the 'coalition dharma', she should have also done the same. Today she is responsible for withdrawing support. However, the government is in majority. We have support of 307 lawmakers against the required number of 272. But she has left no stone unturned in destabilising the government," said Pal.

"She (Mamata Banerjee) has made false allegations by stating that her phones are being tapped and that the government did not try to communicate with the TMC. So it is evident that there is no scope of dialogue," said Pal.

Pal brushed aside speculation of any last minute reconciliation with the Trinamool Congress (TMC), which will formally withdraw support from the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government later in the day when its six ministers resign from the central government.

Simultaneously, Congress ministers in the Trinamool-led West Bengal government will resign from their posts.

TMC ministers will meet Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh today to resign from his government over the new reforms he cleared last week. They will then head to Rashtrapati Bhawan where they will formally withdraw their letter of support to the ruling UPA coalition in which Banerjee''s Trinamool Congress was the second-largest ally.

The Trinamool Congress has six ministers, including one of Cabinet rank, in the UPA government.

After Trinamool Congress''s withdrawal of support, the UPA government''s support in Lok Sabha will come down from 273 to 254 and the coalition will be heavily dependent on Samajwadi Party (22) and BSP (21) for its majority in the House.

For a simple majority, government needs the support of at least 273 MPs in a House of 545.

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