Mamata Banerjee quits, says can’t back anti-people UPA govt

Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday announced the withdrawal of support to the UPA government. All ministers of her party would resign on Friday, she told reporters in Kolkata after a meeting of the Trinamool parliamentary party at Town Hall this evening.

"We have all decided together in the name of maa, mati, manush that our ministers will go to Delhi and submit their resignations to the Hon'ble Prime Minister at 3 pm of Friday. We have decided that we are not going to be part of UPA 2... We have decided to withdraw support," Mamata said.

Mamata said it was "unfortunate" that the Trinamool had been "forced out" of the government. "We had thought that the government would take a decision... It is unfortunate... We cannot support their anti-people decisions. We are withdrawing support though we were not in favour of withdrawing support earlier..."

Mamata, whose party has 19 members in the Lok Sabha, said the Congress had not given the Trinamool "any respect as the second largest partner".

"If someone beheads me and then tells me to stay, well, that is not fair. There have been price hikes so many times without consulting us. There is something called equality and non-discrimination. If you allow FDI (foreign direct investment) in retail, poor people will perish. Who are you trying to give benefits to? Is it to divert attention from Coalgate?"

Mamata attacked the Congress for the "games" it plays with its allies, and declared that losing the railway ministry would be a small price to pay for standing up for the common people.

"We know the Congress's game... If Mamata goes, they will go to Mayawati, if Mayawati goes, they will go to Mulayam, if Mulayam goes, they will go to Lalu... We have had enough of this blackmail by the Congress," she said.

... contd.

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