Congress leaving TC will not affect govt in WB: Hakim

Kolkata, Jan 5: Amid the ongoing spat between the Trinamool Congress and its electoral ally Congress in West Bengal, a senior minister on Thursday dared the Congress to leave the government, saying it would have no effect as the TC had two-thirds majority in the state.

''If we leave the government at the Centre, it will fall. But we want it to continue. If the Congress leaves us in West Bengal, it will not affect the state government as we have two-third majority here,'' state Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Minister Firad Hakim told newsmen.

Without naming Adhir Chowdhury who had criticised Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for deciding to set up a Nazrul Academy at Indira Bhavan, he said, ''a leader in Murshidabad and the Congress are acting like poet Kalidas.

They are cutting the same branch that they are sitting on. But they must realise that they are for us. We are not for them.''

Hakim said a section of Congress leaders were inducting anti-socials in the party to foment violence in the state as more Congressmen were leaving the party. He said that the Congress agitating over the Indira Bhavan issue was only strengthening the Left Front.

''If they had anything to say on this, the PCC chief or the Congress ministers could have met the Chief Minister. They did not have any such agitation during the Left Front rule.'' The Congress has never cared to observe the birth or death anniversary of Indira Gandhi at the Bhavan so far, he said.

PTI