IANS/Kolkata
Ties between West Bengal’s ruling partners sunk to a new low yesterday with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee angrily telling the Congress that it was free to quit the eight-month-old alliance. The Trinamul Congress supremo further rubbed in the point that her party had won the state polls last year with a huge margin.Banerjee also dubbed the Congress’s protest against the state government as an act of vengeance as Trinamul has opposed various policies of the Congress-led central government, including FDI in retail and Lokayukta provision in Lokpal bill.Banerjee said the Congress was perpetrating “a dirty political game” as it is apprehensive of the Trinamul fighting in the Uttar Pradesh and Manipur assembly elections.“The Congress, by colluding with the Marxists, is taking out protests against the state government as the Trinamul did not agree with the decision of FDI in retail, Lokayukta provision in Lokpal bill and oil price hike. We had opposed it tooth and nail, so now they are doing these protests. They have forcefully included the Lokayukta provision we had opposed, but they had not paid any heed to our opposition. They didn’t even go for a vote on the issue (in Rajya Sabha),” said an angry Banerjee.“If the Congress wants to go with the CPM they can go, the door is open, but if the Congress and the CPM work together in the state they won’t get Trinamul beside them. The Trinamul Congress is not a party of thieves and murderers,” Banerjee told reporters here.But the state Congress retorted they were not bound to follow her orders and would continue in the ministry.State Congress president Pradip Bhattacharjee said: “We will stay in the ministry, we are not going to leave it. We are there because of the blessings of the common man. We are not bound to follow her orders and fulfil her wishes as we are not her subjects.” He said “the Congress is not afraid of anybody. It doesn’t make any sense that we will leave the ministry if she wants.” The Trinamul Congress is a major constituent of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) with 19 members in the Lok Sabha and six in the Rajya Sabha. It has played a consistent spoiler to major policies of the central government, starting from foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail to the Lokayukta clause in the Lokpal bill.The Trinamul is running an alliance in the eastern state with the Congress - though it is not dependent on the party, and has repeatedly reminded the Congress leadership in Delhi to follow its dictum or face the consequences. Banerjee alleged that the Congress was “carrying on these planted games” as they were worried of Trinamul contesting the Uttar Pradesh and Manipur polls.“The Congress is afraid because the Trinamul has decided to fight in Uttar Pradesh and Manipur, that is why they are so much worried and are carrying on these planted games. Nobody can undermine us by carrying on such dirty political games,” Banerjee said.“The Trinamul, on their own strength, has fought the Left and has come to power. I can go alone... during the days of Singur and Nandigram I was all alone. I can still go alone and fight alone. Nobody can win by conspiring against us,” she said.Banerjee’s angry comments come despite Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Congress high command reaching out to settle the issue with the Trinamul by offering an olive branch.“We have our problems but I am confident that if we have the will and determination, we will overcome these temporary problems,” the prime minister said on Friday.Congress general secretary Shakeel Ahmed asked the West Bengal unit to settle all outstanding issues with the Trinamul Congress.The Congress-Trinamul ties have remained uneasy since Banerjee joined the UPA after the 2009 Lok Sabha election.The current provocation for the uneasy ties between the two partners was the West Bengal government’s proposal to rename a building named after late prime minister Indira Gandhi. Banerjee wants the Kolkata-based Indira Bhavan - where Gandhi stayed in 1972 - to be named after revered Bangla poet Kazi Nazrul Islam.“If we name something after Nazrul Islam why are they so angry? Why can’t we name anything on Maulana Azadji, Ambedkarji and others? A country cannot run like this,” said Banerjee.“Some people are trying to divert attention from the main national issues and that is why they are making a hue and cry over small issues. A total interference is going on in the federal structure of the state. Our party members are being killed by Congress and CPI-M,” Banerjee said.