CM mimics PM...sad!

www.telegraphindia.com – Thu 27 Sep, 2012

Calcutta, Sept. 26: Mamata Banerjee has refused to slam the door on an alliance with the Congress in the future, taking care to spare Sonia Gandhi while launching an acid-dripping assault on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his government.

In an interview to Rajdeep Sardesai of CNN-IBN, the Bengal chief minister danced around or declined to answer categorically questions on the possibility of a future tie-up with the Congress.

"I can't say about tomorrow's strategy. The party will have to decide. I can decide today's strategy. But I'm fed up with them. I can't give my individual opinion. I've a party with me and I have to take them into confidence," Mamata said, asked about the possibility of a tie-up if the Congress sought her support after the next Lok Sabha polls.

In the hour-long interview with Sardesai in Calcutta, Mamata said the Prime Minister was not a "grassroot man", mimicked his soft-spoken style, rooted for fiscal autonomy in so aggressive a manner that it barely stopped short of cutting the umbilical cord with the Centre and batted for a federal front of chief ministers to lobby for more powers for states. (video shown below, thanks to Anunoy Biswas)

But Mamata did not give an unequivocal answer on whether she would support a resolution against FDI in Parliament. Mamata first said her party would decide and then added that she would support a resolution if Mulayam Singh Yadav committed that he would not change his stand.

The chief minister's vituperative attack on the Prime Minister suggested that she has concluded that the crisis-ridden UPA-II would be little more than a liability for allies and she is keeping her options open for a post-Manmohan era.

Mamata steered clear of criticising the Congress president, saying she and Sonia Gandhi shared a "personal relationship" and she had messaged Sonia to save the alliance.

"I am not saying anything against Soniaji because of personal relationship. I sent a message to Soniaji saying 'Madam, please save the alliance. (The) alliance should not break'," the chief minister said.
She sidestepped a question if she would have desisted from withdrawing support had Sonia called her. The long duration (3 hours) of the Town Hall meeting where the decision was taken had fuelled suggestions that Mamata was waiting for a call from Sonia.

Although Mamata dodged questions on a future alliance, she did not miss the opportunity to ridicule the state Congress. Mamata hurled a challenge at the state Congress leaders, saying that the Bengal unit would not win a single seat in the next Lok Sabha polls without Trinamul.

However, she insisted it was the Congress, not her party, that had walked out of the alliance in the state. "In Bengal they have broken the alliance. It is not that we have broken it."

The assertion leaves Mamata with room for manoeuvre if she gauges before the next general election that she cannot afford a split in the anti-Left vote. Several imponderables ' such as the rise of the BJP, the Congress pockets that have withstood erosion, state-level anti-incumbency 'will be at play between now and the next elections.

According to Mamata, the general election will take place next year after the UPA presents a "populist budget for eyewash".

On the Prime Minister and the UPA, Mamata did not pull any punches. "It's stable of the corruption, by the corruption and for the corruption. It's stable from the point of view of Congress (I). It is not stable from the point of view of the public."

Mamata also struck at the root of the Prime Minister's USP, saying that in the name of reforms, "horror and disaster" were going on.

Asked if she would support a "federal front", Mamata said she would. But her immediate thrust appeared to be on ensuring more powers to the states rather than cobbling together a political combine. "I will be happy to do it if the regional chief ministers can sit together for the future of the country…. States should be more powerful. India should be run from different parts of the country," Mamata said.

Eyes blazing, the chief minister declared that the Centre should stop collecting taxes from states and agreed with the interviewer that she was seeking "fiscal autonomy" for states.

"The Centre collects income tax, sales tax, corporate tax. They distribute 32 per cent of the taxes collected among the states. Why should this be? If we get the money, we won't need any help. We will take the responsibility. Let the debate start," she said.

Told Omar Abdullah was in favour of FDI in retail, Mamata said: "Let him take it. Centre gives Jammu and Kashmir so much money…. He has so many beautiful places… and we are proud of it. I am not going to quarrel but he cannot decide our future. He cannot decide India's future."

Asked if she was eyeing the Prime Minister's seat, the chief minister said: "I am not their leader. I am happy to be their ladder."

Mamata slipped in a claim that strengthens suspicions Pranab Mukherjee was not the Congress's first choice for President. "Because of me Pranab Mukherjee got elected. Pranabda also knows…. This was not a plan, but it happens," Mamata said.

 Full Interview video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rjA5RAKlDo&feature=related

A Conversation in Bangur Hospital

This is just an excerpt from what actually been published in The Telegraph on 26th May '11 on Front page. I think the news will be lost after some time, though some daily reporting may come gradually, but it may not be able to stir public mind. Hope, the reporting here is true.

Hospital head suspended

TAMAGHNA BANERJEE

Calcutta, May 26: The director of the Bangur Institute of Neurosciences was suspended late tonight under instructions from chief minister Mamata Banerjee for alleged “misconduct and insubordination”.

Hours before, neurosurgeon Shyamapada Ghorai had told Mamata that the trail of people following her during a surprise check was inconveniencing patients. Ghorai had several critical surgeries lined up for Friday, and it wasn’t immediately clear whether he could still conduct them.

The Telegraph was present when the chief minister, on her way to Writers’ Buildings, stopped her car in front of the Bangur Institute of Neurosciences on Sambhunath Pandit Street in south Calcutta.

***********************

Mamata, who also holds the health portfolio, enters the hospital at 11.47am. She stops in front of the radiology department on the ground floor. Two patients are on stretchers.

Mamata: What happened? Why are you here? Aren’t they treating you?

A patient’s relative: We are here for an MRI.

Mamata: OK.

She opens the swing door and strides into the radiology department’s “imaging unit”. Around seven employees, including at least one doctor, are inside.

Mamata: What is done in this room?

A doctor: Ma’am, we do MRI.

Mamata: I hope you don’t face problems at work.

Doctor: No, Ma’am, things are fine over here.

Mamata: Do all these machines work properly?

Doctor: Yes, Ma’am, most of them. A few of them may have some problems.

Mamata: What sort of problems? How many machines have such problems?

The employees do not reply.

By then, informed by one of the employees, institute director Ghorai walks up in haste. An official introduces Ghorai to the chief minister.

Ghorai folds his hands in a namaskar and Mamata reciprocates.

Mamata: How many faulty machines do we have here?

Ghorai: I can’t say. There are some.

Mamata: How many machines are here and what are they for?

Ghorai: It’s difficult to say. There are quite a few.

Mamata: Meet me tomorrow with a detailed report of all the machines over here, their present condition and the number of faulty instruments.

Ghorai: Let’s see if I can manage. I have a few operations tomorrow. (He conducts operations on Tuesdays and Fridays.)

The chief minister looks angry. She storms out and the staff follow. So does Ghorai.

Mamata meets some patients from the outdoor section who bombard her with complaints.

“Didi, we don’t have drinking water.”

“Didi, the gates are shut most of the time, preventing the patients’ entry.”

“Didi, there are not enough doctors and they keep us waiting for hours.”

“Didi, the doctors at the outdoor department never turn up on time.”

The chief minister takes notes in a small diary.

A patient’s family begs Mamata for admission. She turns to a hospital official and says: “See what he has to say.”

She asks some of the staff: “What are your problems?”

They call director Ghorai, standing at a distance.

Ghorai (with folded hands): Ekhane ki ebhabe katha bola jai? Aapnar shathe ato lok, ato TV camera, era shob patient-der opor haamle porchhe, odero oshubidha hochchhe (is it possible to speak with so many people and TV cameras around? They are walking all over the patients and causing inconvenience).

Mamata (raising her voice): What is your problem if there are so many people here? I haven’t brought the media with me…. They move about with me because they love me. But you seem to have a problem with the media coming to your hospital.

She pauses for a moment. Ghorai gestures to suggest she is getting him wrong, folds his hands and is about to say something.

Mamata: Seems like you are afraid that if the media come here, you and your acts will be exposed. You have already been exposed. You don’t know etiquette… how to behave with people. I don’t want to speak to you any more. You meet me tomorrow, I will take a decision.

She turns back. On her way out, she pauses beside the two patients on stretchers.

“Did any of the media people disturb you?” she asks.

“No,” says one.

Mamata advances a few paces and mumbles: “Shob shomoy amaar naame dosh chapiye deoa (the blame is always pinned on me).”

12.02pm: Mamata’s black Santro leaves for Writers’.
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