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PMO hijacked, Vajpayee isolated: Mamata

By Malabika Bhattacharya

KOLKATA JULY 30. The Trinamool Congress supremo, Mamata Banerjee, today began the process of snapping of ties with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) by training the guns on the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, and his deputy, L.K. Advani, who she thinks masterminded the rejection of the proposal for a rollback of the Eastern Railway bifurcation plan.

``The Trinamool Congress' working committee which meets here tomorrow will decide whether we will continue to be a part of the NDA or not,'' Ms. Banerjee said at a news conference.

Ms. Banerjee felt that Mr. Vajpayee was not able to wield any authority in the Government. "The Defence Minister, George Fernandes, told me that the Prime Minister had the will to help the Trinamool and Bengal on bifurcation, but he (Mr. Vajpayee) was powerless to do so.'' Ms. Mamata saw Mr. Vajpayee as the imprisoned Mughal emperor, Shajahan, who had been isolated. Alleging that the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) had been hijacked, she said there was no way to know who the ``real'' Prime Minister was.

Ms. Banerjee said when Mr. Advani was chosen as the Deputy Prime Minister, the Trinamool Congress was not consulted. ``He is a notified Deputy Prime Minister. But, even then, we went and congratulated him.''

While indicating that she was not re-considering a patch-up with the NDA, Ms. Banerjee said she had turned town the offer of a ministerial berth to her. ``Mr. Fernandes telephoned me last night and offered me a Cabinet berth. I said no to it. A ministerial berth is not at all important to me.''

The Cabinet decision on bifurcation was the product of electoral consideration — in this case, the Bihar Assembly elections. ``The decision reeks of provincialism and parochialism. The BJP has more MPs from Bihar and Bengal. But the Prime Minister does not belong to Bihar alone. He is the Prime Minister of the country. He has ditched Bengal,'' she said.

The Trinamool chief reiterated her charges against the Railway Minister, Mr. Nitish Kumar, in regard to the Godhra carnage, saying she knew a little too much on ``his role in its cover-up.'' Ms. Banerjee circulated a five-page letter she had sent to the Prime Minister on the day before the Cabinet meeting arguing against bifurcation of the Eastern Railway.

Ms. Banerjee said she would be delighted to launch a joint movement against the Centre on the issue of bifurcation of the Eastern Railway. ``We hope the Chief Minister (Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee) will rise above party politics and respond positively to our call for a joint movement. If he does not, then we will go ahead with our programmes,'' she said.

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