Prez poll: Mamata wants quid pro quo
Knowing her support is crucial for the President’s election, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee is expected to bargain with the Centre in a bid to press for financial relief for the debt ridden state.
Ms Banerjee is slated to meet the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.
Trinamul Congress leaders maintained on Wednesday that the President’s election is a 'side issue' for the party and Ms Banerjee would keep the focus on the demands for financial relief for West Bengal.
However, Ms Banerjee is expected to be open to the idea of holding consultations with non-BJP and non-Congress political parties on the issue of President’s election. It has been learnt that the Trinamul Congress is 'open' to the idea of who could be the next President even though the Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav’s emissary and Rajya Sabha MP Kiranmay Nanda had met Ms Banerjee earlier in Kolkata on the issue.
A TMC delegation of MPs had met the Prime Minister last week to press for the financial relief for West Bengal but they were told that there was no constitutional provision to accept the demands of the state, which include moratorium on interest payments, restructuring of debt and deferrment of payment of pricipal loans.
Just ahead of leaving for Delhi, Ms Banerjee on Wednesday said that the Centre would not be doing a favour by granting a moratorium to the state government on interest repayment on the loans taken by the previous Left Front government.
“It is the duty of the Central government and it was a pre-poll promise made by the Prime Minister. Even the Planning Commission has recommended this. Moreover, it is not as if we are asking for a special package. Between 2000 and 2006, the Centre had given a moratorium to Punjab. We are not seeking charity,” the West Bengal CM added angrily.
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