Despite voting for Pranab Mukherjee in the presidential election, Mamata Banerjee is still peeved with the Congress-led UPA. Insiders said that she would make her displeasure with the Centre clear during the Trinamul Congress’ Martyrs’ Day rally on Saturday. “Didi is going to tear into the Centre on Saturday. As she herself announced she decided to support Pranabda’s candidature with a heavy heart and only due to the compulsions of coalition politics, Didi is going to deliver a hard-hitting speech and will be targeting not only the CPI(M) but also the Congress,” a Trinamul Congress MP considered close to her revealed.
Ms Banerjee is extremely cut up with the Centre for not providing her with the bailout package she had been demanding for the past one year. She has repeatedly said that if the Centre did not grant a three-year moratorium on debt repayment, then the state government would be in dire straits. Every year, the state is paying `22,000 crores to the Centre as interest on the debt of a staggering `2 lakh crores.
Ms Banerjee also suspects that the Congress was trying to engineer defection in her party. On Thursday, she had lambasted Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy for attending Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s lunch on Wednesday without seeking her consent. She is certain that Dinesh Trivedi had not dared to increase the railway fare without the prodding of the Congress.
“In the rally, Didi will make it clear that she will continue to provide issue-based support to the UPA but will oppose tooth and nail policies and issues like FDI in retail, Pension Bill et al,” he added.
The state Congress leaders are in a sulk because they have not been invited for the rally although SUCI leaders have been invited.
The Martyrs’ Day rally will also be used as a platform to showcase Mamata Banerjee government’s achievements in the past one year.
In 2011, the July 21 rally had virtually turned out to be a belated victory rally celebrating her ascent to power. Last year, the rally was organised at the Brigade Parade Ground but heavy downpour had turned the sprawling venue into a paddy field. This year, therefore, the rally is back at its original venue: outside CESC head office at Dharmatala.
Senior party leaders Mukul Roy, Partha Chatterjee and Subrata Bakshi on Friday reviewed last-minute preparations of the huge stage from where Ms Banerjee would deliver her speech. “The turnout will be so mammoth that it will break all previous records,” Mr Chatterjee said. Thousands of party workers, particularly from North Bengal districts, started arriving from Wednesday.