PMO ultimatum angers Mamata

By Our Special Correspondent

KOLKATA, MARCH 20. The gap between the BJP-led Government and its estranged ally, Trinamool Congress, further widened today with the former Railway Minister, Ms. Mamata Banerjee, ignoring the ultimatum issued by the Prime Minister's Office. The PMO had sought a clear statement, within 24 hours, from the Trinamool on whether the party was willing to extend from support to the National Democratic Alliance.

``We have taken exception to the way the BJP leadership has tried to force our party to pledge support to the NDA... If the need arises we may even oppose the Vajpayee Government in Parliament,'' Mr. Sudip Bandopadhyay, Trinamool MP and chief whip, said. He told reporters that the Trinamool chief, Ms. Banerjee, had received a fax message from Delhi on Monday signed by Mr. Sudheendra Kulkarni, officer in the PMO, asking her to spell out her stand on the NDA Government within 24 hours. Till the other day, Mr. Kulkarni was acting as coordinator between the Trinamool and the BJP.

The message read: ``(The) Trinamool would have to make a public statement reaffirming faith in the Prime Minister, Mr. A.B. Vajpayee, as well as extend support to the NDA Government from outside, like the TDP so that the country is not pushed into the vortex of instability by the machinations of the Congress and the communists.''

Conveying Ms. Banerjee's mind to the media on the ultimatum, Mr. Bandopadhyay said she would not even bother to reply for two reasons. First, the Trinamool had already made known its position vis-a-vis the NDA when it announced the withdrawal of support on March 15. ``In what way has the situation changed between then and now that we would be required to issue a fresh statement?''

Secondly, the message, according to Ms. Banerjee, was in bad taste because its framing sounded almost like a threat. ``We are a political party and so cannot be expected to change our position every now and then,'' Mr. Bandopadhyay said. ``The tone of the letter is uncivilised.''

With this, the possible emergence of new political configurations in West Bengal has brightened. With Ms. Banerjee almost putting an end to Trinamool's relationship with the BJP - at least for now - a new equation with the parental Congress, once dubbed by her as the B-team of the State's ruling Leftists, seems imminent.

Almost certain that the BJP leadership would now scrap the seat- sharing agreement with the Trinamool, Ms. Banerjee and her aides are busy holding parleys within the party as well as with the Congress high command in Delhi. The Trinamool had allotted 39 seats to the BJP. ``We will not consider the BJP's demand for changes in the existing seats,'' Mr. Bandopadhyay said.

Ms. Banerjee, it is believed, firmly told the Congress leadership in Delhi that she would like to discuss seat-sharing with the party president, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, and none else. The meeting is likely to take place in Delhi around March 25. ``If it's the Congress, she (Ms. Banerjee) will talk to Ms. Gandhi and if it's the BJP, she will prefer to interact with the Prime Minister himself,'' Mr. Bandopadhyay said. Significantly, the last clause indicates that Ms. Banerjee has not exactly shut the door on the Prime Minister.

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