Miffed Mamata, keeps away from Vote

NEW DELHI: The passing of the women's reservation bill on Tuesday saw the return of a "mercurial" Mamata Banerjee.

A day after the Trinamool Congress chief and railways minister looked chirpy, sang along with her party MPs in Lok Sabha and went about garnering support for the bill she said she had always supported, her enthusiasm waned. Taking all including Congress president Sonia Gandhi by surprise, Mamata suddenly changed her stand on Tuesday afternoon and had her party's two Rajya Sabha MPs abstain from voting for the bill.

It was clearly her concern for Muslim votes and Congress' hobnobbing with her arch rivals, the Left, that seems to have changed her mood.

The official reasons she and her partymen gave were that the government did not tell them about the time of voting and that the manner in which marshals were used to evict some Rajya Sabha members was not right.

Even as discussion and voting on the bill was on in the Upper House, an angry Mamata told reporters that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had given her party an understanding that there would be an all-party meeting on the issue.

"We are in favour of the bill, but we must see that things have changed in 15 years. After the Sachar Committee and Ranganath Mishra reports, one has to keep the interest of minorities in mind," Mamata said before she left in a huff. "My party is upset and angry," she said before she got into the car. Clearly, she had been swayed in favour of the minority factor after her long discussions on Tuesday morning with RJD chief Lalu Prasad and SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, who are opposing the bill demanding a quota within quota for minorities, dalits and backwards. Mamata also met a delegation of Muslim organisations who demanded that there should be a quota for Muslim women, within the quota for women.

It was obvious that Mamata was upset about the government hobnobbing with the Left, when she said, "This is not right...to pass the Bill forcefully by calling in marshals. This is a CPM method."

The railway minister also said it was made clear to her on Monday that the measure (voting) would not be adopted the way it was being done.

Union minister of state Dinesh Trivedi and Trinamool's chief whip in Lok Sabha Sudip Bandopadhyay told reporters outside Parliament, "The way the bill was brought up for voting in the Rajya Sabha, we are shocked to see the procedure adopted on the floor of the House."

"Our party chief wanted the views of the Dalits, OBCs and Muslims to be taken on board. But unfortunately that did not happen. Trinamool Congress is for debate and discussion," Trivedi said.

"BJP and Left parties are hobnobbing now. A section of the government is dancing to their tunes. The government should talk to its allies and not keep them in the dark. There should be no communication gap," they added.