New Delhi: Mamata Banerjee skipped a crucial cabinet meeting on Tuesday, but says this should not be interpreted as a sign of growing differences with the Congress.
"Sometimes ministers go to the cabinet meeting, sometimes they have some other duty, they do it. It is a very casual thing. So this is our decision, we will go to meet our first priority meeting," said Banerjee, who is the Railways Minister.
The cabinet meeting was called to discuss the need for President's Rule in Jharkhand. The "first-priority meeting" Banerjee referred to was an evening session chaired by the Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi to release a report on the government's first year in office.
The minister's political opponents were quick to highlight that Banerjee's attendance at cabinet meetings has not been ideal. The government, said the Left's Sitaram Yechury, "has to answer why it happens time and again. This absence is irresponsible."
What is more awkward right now for the Congress is Banerjee's repeated demand for a CBI inquiry into last week's train accident in West Bengal in which close to 150 people were killed after the Gyaneshwari Express headed to Mumbai was derailed. A section of the track was later found missing. On Monday, Home Minister P Chidambaram said that "the needle of suspicion" points towards the Maoists or a front organisation for them. The state's Left government has also blamed the Maoists, but Banerjee and her Trinamool Party insist that the tragedy was the result of a "political conspiracy" designed to embarrass Banerjee on the eve of the civic elections in West Bengal.
The state government has rejected the need for a CBI inquiry. Without its consent, the centre cannot order the CBI to investigate the accident.
That puts it in a vulnerable position with Banerjee, a volatile ally at the best of times. With 19 MPs, Banerjee holds considerable power. And that's perhaps why the Congress is willing to repeatedly defend the charge that Banerjee focuses more on politics in her home state than her duties as a union minister.
When asked about that on Tuesday, she said, "If I remember correctly, my predecessor Laluji did not answer a single question in Parliament in five years tenure. I replied 99.9 per cent questions. Why did not you ask this question to him? You people are politically biased."