Polls over,all roads lead to Delhi

The Trinamool Congress on Monday announced Mamata Banerjee as its parliamentary party leader and declared its support to the next Congress-led...

The Trinamool Congress on Monday announced Mamata Banerjee as its parliamentary party leader and declared its support to the next Congress-led Government at the Centre. The announcement came after a closed-door meeting Mamata held with her new MPs.

Regarding ministerial berths,party sources said Mamata wanted the representation of all sections,including women,minorities,Scheduled Castes,senior leaders and MPs attached to the Nandigram agitation. The Trinamool chief,however,chose to be tight-lipped on the issue and clarified that she would not go for any bargain.

Newly elected MPs Sultan Ahmed and Govinda Chandra Naskar have unanimously been elected deputy leaders of the Trinamool parliamentary party.

Mamata said a letter containing the signatures of her MPs will be sent to President Pratibha Patil informing her about their support to the UPA. Party general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Mukul Roy would leave for Delhi on Monday night,she said.

We do not believe in bargain. There is no need to talk about which ministry we want. We never asked anything from anyone. She said she had already stated on Sunday that the Trinamool Congress would not go for any bargaining. We will do whatever is good for the people.

Mamata said she was likely to leave for New Delhi in a day or two and that she had been in touch with Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and that her MPs would be in Delhi when needed. Sonia Gandhi called us and we had a talk. Manmohan Singh called us and we had a talk. All our MPs will be present in Delhi whenever they are asked to.

Talks are on regarding five ministerial berths,including a Minister of State portfolio. Party sources said the names of Dinesh Trivedi and Sougata Roy were doing the rounds along with Somen Mitra for possible ministerial berths,since they are all senior leaders. Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar is under consideration for representing women. One of the portfolios could go to a leader representing the minorities. For this,the names of Kabir Sumon and Sultan Ahmed are doing the rounds.

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The matter will be cleared within two to three days. We are expecting five of our MPs to get ministerial berths,including Mamata Banerjee. We are in constant dialogue with the Congress and the process will go on smoothly, a senior TMC leader said.