Trnamul Congress chief and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday became sentimental while referring to her long association with UPA presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee.
“After the 2009 elections, I, on behalf of our party, handed him the letter to support the UPA which later benefited him (on becoming the Union finance minister). But I don’t have any contact with him for the last eight months. I don’t know why. I don’t have quarrel with anybody. I had invited him for a tea party at the Writers’ Buildings. But he did not come, maybe he did not find time. I hope that he will come after electing as the President. But I want to forget the old chapter. I don’t want any bitterness. We want to see him as the next President,” Ms Banerjee said.
Speaking to reporters, she also virtually acknowledged that even if the Trinamul Congress does not vote for Mr Mukherjee then also he would win the election.
“We have 50,000 votes. If we abstain, then also he will get 50,000 additional votes. If we vote for him, then he will get additional one lakh votes,” the Trinamul Congress chief said.
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Jairam: split uttar pradesh
Sonbhadra (UP), July 17: Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh Tuesday favoured splitting Uttar Pradesh to end the “administrative nightmare” in the country’s biggest state.
“Uttar Pradesh should be divided. The magnitude of problems are very high (in the state). Two hundred million people, 75 districts, each district 2.5 million people,” Mr Ramesh, who was touring the Naxal-affected areas of Sonbhadra district, told reporters here.
It is the first such comment from a leader in Congress which has chosen to remain ambivalent on the issue and comes months after the previous Mayawati government got a controversial resolution on splitting the state into four passed in the UP Assembly.
The Congress had said it favours constitution of state reorganisation commission before taking the decision to split the state. The remarks may cause some heartburn in the ruling Samajwadi Party, as it has opposed the state’s reorganisation. — PTI