Mamata to skip Trust vote; equi-distance from UPA, NDA

Kolkata, Jul 21: Indicating that she would abstain from Tuesday, July 22 Trust Vote in Parliament, Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Monday, July 21 said her party would maintain equi-distance from the Congress-led UPA, the BJP's NDA and the Left parties.

''We shall maintain equi-distance....neither are we in favour of the Congress nor the BJP or the CPI(M). We are against the nuclear deal, but we are not in favour of early dissolution of the Government,'' she announced at a rally here. Observing that all political parties should have opted for a fresh mandate from the people, the Trinamool chief said whatever was going on in the run-up to the Trust vote, was 'highly unethical'.

''Neither are we in the money game nor are we in any trade-off or in any unholy alliance. We are not going to Delhi...our line is Bengal line,'' she asserted.

Ms Banerjee was the lone representative of her party in Parliament where a Trust Vote would take place on Tuesday, July 22 following the withdrawal of support of the Left parties to the UPA Government over the India-US civil nuclear deal issue.

The rally, an annual event in commemoration of 13 Trinamool Congress activists, who were shot dead by police during a clash in 1993, was attended by thousands of supporters, celebrating the party's spectacular show in the recently held Panchayat elections in West Bengal.

Describing the UPA-Left tussle over the nuke deal as a 'drama', Ms Banerjee said the main issue in the country was price hike, for which both Centre and the State Government were responsible.

''The people do not know what the nuclear deal is. They feel what the price rise is. Prices of everything have soared, but no party has any headache over this issue,'' she said.

UNI