Amid 'patch-up', TMC leader fires fresh salvo at UPA

Kolkata, March 30: The

(TMC), which recently backed the

-led

government over the Sri Lankan crisis in the wake of the

's pull-out from the ruling coalition, sought immediate resignation of the central government for it was turned into a minority. The TMC itself was an ally in the ruling coalition but pulled out last September due to differences with the senior ally over popular policies.

Mukul Roy, the all-India general secretary of the Bengal-based party, on Friday said at the party headquarters that they had withdrawn support from the UPA to protest against the wrong policies of the latter on foreign direct investment and raising petroleum prices making it a minority government. He said the DMK's withdrawal has weakened it further.

Roy, who had served as ministers in the UPA government when the TMC was in alklnce, said the government had no moral power to remain in power. The TMC had tried to bring in a no-confidence motion to topple the UPA government last November bit did not succeed. Party supremo Mamata Banerjee has also been saying often that the next Lok Sabha polls would be held this year itself.

Roy's outburst, however, came at a time when both the Congress and the TMC leadership were reportedly trying to patch up. While the Congress was hunting for new allies to sail through the final year after the DMK pulled out and the unpredictable Samajwadi Party started singing in different tunes, the TMC understood that its government in Bengal wasn't doing well and needed Centre's financial backing and the Congress's cooperation to satisfy its mass base, particularly ahead of the rural elections.

The Union rural development ministry recently approved funds for the rural job scheme for Bengal and the state government expressed its satisfaction for the decision.

Roy's fresh salvo at the Centre could just be another eyewash. Survival is the key question in politics before anything else and both the Congress and the TMC share a common interest in this regard at the moment.

OneIndia News