Will Mamata quit govt, keep railways?

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Is mercurial Trinamul Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee contemplating resigning from the Union Cabinet to concentrate completely on next year’s Assembly elections in West Bengal? Speculation has intensified about this after her party’s landslide victory in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation elections and its impressive showing in the civic polls across the rest of the state.

She is likely to take a final call on this by later this year, with the state election — which she is widely expected to win — likely to take place in early 2011. But even if she resigns from the Manmohan Singh government, she will still remain a “trusted ally” of the Congress in the UPA for its full five-year term, and has no intention of relinquishing control over the railway ministry.
She has made it extremely clear that if she steps down, she would insist that her party retain the railway portfolio at the Centre. In her absence, either Mr Dinesh Trivedi or Mr Mukul Roy, both of whom are ministers of state at the Centre, are likely to be considered for the railway portfolio.
Sources close to Ms Banerjee said that “following criticism that she was not able to give adequate time to her ministerial duties in New Delhi, Didi intends to quit and channelise all her energies to Trinamul’s victory in the Assembly polls.” Speaking at a recent rally in West Bengal, Ms Banerjee went on record to say that she “plans to quit and work in the state”.
The Trinamul chief, meanwhile, eager to bank on the anti-Left wave sweeping West Bengal at this juncture, is all set to launch a movement to advance the date of the Assembly elections. She is expected to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on Monday and submit a report on the existing scenario in West Bengal.
Speaking to the media in Kolkata, she said: “There is no government here. Why delay the Assembly elections. The people of the state have already sounded the death knell for the Left Front.”
The Trinamul president, who is now looking at the possibility of becoming the state’s next chief minister, in the event of her party winning the Assembly polls, is also making plans to stand in the Assembly elections herself. However, she will resign from the Lok Sabha only if Trinamul wins the Assembly polls.
In her report to the Prime Minister, Ms Banerjee plans to provide “detailed information about corruption in the state government and the CPI(M),” sources said Corruption and lawlessness will be her two major election planks.
When asked about Ms Banerjee’s plans to leave the Union Cabinet, a party leader said a decision would have to be taken before the Winter Session of Parliament at the latest. “Didi is giving indications that following the civic poll results, she needs to stay and work in the state around the clock. Since she is the only vote-catcher of the party, Didi will have to travel extensively across the state.”