Sources suggest Mamata has made her unhappiness clear both to the TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu and the Congress that is working as a fulcrum for the opposition-supported TDP's motion scheduled to be taken up today in the Lok Sabha; All 34 Member of Parliaments (MP) will be present and vote for the no confidence motion today
'Didi' is not happy with Telegu Desam Party’s no confidence motion over the demand of special status to Andhra Pradesh. Though all 34 Member of Parliaments (MP) will be present and voting for the motion today, highly placed sources suggest she has made her unhappiness clear both to the TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu and the Congress that is working as a fulcrum for the opposition-supported TDP's motion scheduled to be taken up today in the Lok Sabha.
When TDP reached out to the Trinamool Congress (TMC) head Mamata Banerjee for support for their no confidence motion this session of Parliament, the Bengal chief minister made her disagreement clear, says a TMC source. “Mamata said, ‘We are not against special status for Andhra Pradesh, but we have our reservations for moving an NCM just for that particularly when you know the motion will be defeated in all likelihood. It also opens up avenues for other regional parties to bring no confidence motion in future for regional issues”, says the source.
The source added, Chandrababu Naidu, the TDP chief was "adamant". “Finally, Didi agreed to voting for the motion, but not without telling Naidu that she still believed it was a wrong mechanism”, added the source.
Why did Banerjee agree if she had reservations? "2019," pat came the reply. MyNation has reliably learnt that Banerjee agreed to vote against her wish to take part in the voting simply out of ‘political compulsion’, with 2019 in mind where she aims to play a much bigger role in the national fray.
Another TMC MP explained why Banerjee is unhappy. “In spite of all the tweets and sound bytes supporting Naidu on TV, she knows this can prove to be politically troublesome for her in Bengal. Gorkhas are demanding Gorkhaland for decades, which the TMC ruled State government is rigidly against. The demand for Kamtapur is also been around for years. Now, if you are fighting for the special status of a State that agreed to be split so that Telangana can be created, you are sending a very wrong message”, reasoned the TMC MP. “And Didi knows about it. But she has a bigger picture in mind right now which is beyond Bengal,” he said.
In fact, the TMC didn’t want the motion to be taken up on Friday as most of its MPs (apart from 3 Lok Sabha and 2 Rajya Sabha) are in Bengal preparing for the all-important annual show on Saturday that it calls ‘Martyrs' Day’, where the entire party pays rich tribute to the 13 colleagues of undivided Congress killed in a 1993 police firing in Kolkata during a political protest, led by Mamata, then a young Congress leader. But the request for postponement was turned down.
What happened next inside the central hall of Parliament exposed the distrust within the Mahagatbandhan allies. The BJP spread the word around that TMC was abstaining. It seemed all the more believable to Mahagatbandhan forces as everyone knows about Banerjee’s unwillingness to vote for the motion despite her public assurance to the contrary.
A Congress leader who doesn’t wish to be named rushed to Ahmed Patel. Two quick calls were made to Banerjee, one by Patel and the other by Ghulam Nabi Azad. She had to assure them all over again that her party would vote along with Mahagatbandhan forces to soothe the nerves of Congress bigwigs and TDP leadership.
By last night, most TMC MPs had reached Delhi and some this morning. Mamata is likely to keep her word, keeping her ‘national ambitions’ in mind. However, that doesn’t change the fact that she is still sceptical about this motion. As a TMC leader summed it up, “Didi knows it's a two-edged sword. After all the debates, the final one will be of PM Modi. And no one can reply to him. And if Modi, the orator that he is, makes even a passing reference to Gorkhaland, we have to face the political consequence in Bengal.”
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