13 years ago

The divorce is final and the UPA is a minority government. The President of India has accepted a letter, signed by the Trinamool Congress' Mukul Roy, withdrawing support from the government.

Mamata Banerjee's six ministers could have sent their resignation letters to the Prime Minister. But they chose to hand deliver them this evening, before setting out to meet the President and formally end the Trinamool Congress's partnership with the Congress-led UPA government.

The Trinamool Congress ministers at the Centre will submit their resignations today. The Trinamool Congress, which had 19 MPs in Parliament, was an ally of the UPA government for over three years. The Prime Minister's determination to "stay the course" and implement politically-risky reforms has hurtled his government into a minority.
With Mamata Banerjee exiting the UPA, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will address the nation at 8 pm today explaining the Centre's introduction of FDI in multi-brand retail.

Mamata Banerjee's ministers will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh around 4 pm today to resign from his government over the new reforms he cleared last week. They will then head to Rashtrapati Bhawan where they will formally withdraw their letter of support to the ruling UPA coalition in which Ms Banerjee's Trinamool Congress was the second-largest ally.

In a tit-for-tat reaction, Congress' six ministers in the West Bengal government were hoping to resign in Kolkata today. However Mamata Banerjee has given time till tomorrow 5 pm to these ministers for the submission of their resignation letters. This will complete the severing of ties between the Trinamool Congress and the Congress.
In a while from now, ministers from Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi to hand over their resignation letters. This is after the West Bengal Chief Minister decided to withdraw support from the UPA government over the Centre's decision to introduce Foreign Direct Investment in FDI.