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.
