Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee’s meeting with the new finance minister, P Chidambaram, on Thursday was a far cry from her tenuous relations with the Congress leader when he was the home minister till last month.
The improved relation between the alliance partners is visible in TMC’s support for the Congress, when the party and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are being targeted by the opposition in the wake of a Comptroller and Auditor General of India report that said the exchequer lost Rs 1.86 lakh crore on allocation of coal blocks.
Sources said the West Bengal chief minister’s demand for a financial package for the state will soon be approved by the government in the form of Central schemes. “Our state Finance Minister Amit Mitra will soon meet Chidambaram...They will discuss the state's finance in details,” Banerjee told reporters on Thursday.
The present amicable relations notwithstanding, she is still opposed to allowing foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail and civil aviation and reforms in the pension and insurance sectors. “We are not in favour of FDI in retail. We are not in favour of FDI in aviation also. Always we are in favour of common people,” Banerjee said after meeting Chidambaram.
Government sources said Banerjee could be made to reconsider her position at least on FDI in civil aviation if her concerns were addressed.
Speaking on the issue of fertiliser subsidy, Banerjee said: “Farmers are not being able to buy fertilisers due to the high price. It's a bad situation. Fertiliser is under the Centre so I have asked for subsidy in fertiliser to control the price. There are big farmers and small farmers. In Bengal poor farmers cannot afford imported fertiliser.”