Mamata cancels meeting
Rift with BJP widens on Railway portfolio

CALCUTTA, Jan 16 (PTI) — The Trinamool Congress today accused BJP President Kushabhau Thakre of acting "as an extra-constitutional authority" by rejecting its demand for the Railway portfolio and announced cancellation of its leader Mamata Banerjee’s meeting with the Prime Minister, further widening differences between the two coalition partners.

Ms Banerjee was scheduled to meet Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in New Delhi tomorrow to discuss her demand for the Railway portfolio for her nominee in the planned Cabinet expansion.

"I have already communicated her decision to the Prime Minister. She is not going (to Delhi) tomorrow," party spokesman Sudip Bandopadhyay said here.

He described Thakre’s statement as "unexpected", and said it had created confusion and widened differences between the two coalition partners.

Reshuffling or expansion of the Union Cabinet is the Prime Minister’s prerogative and his decision should be accepted by everyone, he said, adding "Thakre has tried to act as an extra-constitutional authority. He has no business to say anything regarding this."

Ms Banerjee, he said, had agreed to discuss the issue of the party’s demand for the railway portfolio following Vajpayee’s requests and the meeting was scheduled tomorrow evening.

"After Thakre’s statement we requested her not to go. She will not go tomorrow," he added.

NEW DELHI: The Samata Party today strongly opposed Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee’s demand for the Railway portfolio held by the party and warned that it would not compromise on the issue.

Party MP Shakuni Chaudhary told reporters that Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee should not think Samata Party was a weak party and try to undermine it.

"Yeh gajar muli ki party nahi hai ki ukhar kar phek di jaye", he said.

This is the first official strong statement from the party on Ms Banerjee’s demand as a condition to Trinamool Congress joining the government.

Mr Chaudhary criticised Ms Banerjee for going public with her demand for the Railway portfolio. "She ought to have discussed the matter with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in private instead of making an open demand," he said.

Mr Chaudhary felt that by making a public demand Ms Banerjee had challenged the Prime Minister’s powers openly.

Mr Chaudhary, who left a meeting of party MPs chaired by Defence Minister George Fernandes halfway through to address the Press conference, said the Parliamentary Party had several issues on its agenda. The Cabinet reshuffle was obviously one of them, he said but declined to elaborate on the deliberations on the matter.

Though Railway Minister Nitish Kumar had said yesterday that Cabinet expansion or reshuffle of portfolios was the prerogative of the Prime Minister, Mr Chaudhary made it clear that the key ministry was a matter of prestige for his party.

Asked what his party would do in case the prestigious Ministry was taken away, he said: "Wait and see".

To a question, he said Ms Banerjee’s statement was detrimental for coalition politics.