Senior Congress leader and Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday that the Congress is yet to decide whether to join the government if the Congress-Trinamul Congress alliance gets majority after the Assembly polls.
“The call on whether to join or not will be taken by the Congress leadership after the alliance comes to power,” Mr Mukherjee said while releasing the Congress poll manifesto.
In the manifesto, the Congress has promised compensation at market prices to the those who have lost land to industries.
Giving a warning to disgruntled Congress leaders who want to contest the Assembly elections against candidates fielded by the Congress-Trinamul Congress alliance, the finance minister made it clear that those who defy the party’s decision would be expelled from the Congress for six years.
On being asked about the party’s stand on the decision of some Congress leaders to contest the state Assembly polls as Independent candidates with the support and blessings of some senior state Congress leaders, Mr Mukherjee said: “If somebody goes against party discipline and fields someone or contests himself of herself as a candidate against the party nominee or candidate of the alliance, he or she will face expulsion from the party for six years as per the constitution of the Congress party. The president of the state Congress has the power to expel anybody in this ground and he will do it.”
Giving his own example, he added: “I was number two in Indira Gandhi’s cabinet but did not get ticket in
1989 elections. So it is not a very big thing.”