Kolkata:
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has completed six months in office on Sunday. Since coming to office, Banerjee, who ended the 34-year Left rule in West Bengal, has had a host of issues to deal with. She has had to grapple with a debt burden of about Rs 2 lakh crore, the Maoist issue, besides a not so comfortable a relationship with her Congress ally.
In her first major achievement within two months after taking office on May 20, Banerjee, who ended the 34-year Left rule in West Bengal, was able to broker the tripartite Gorkhaland Territorial Administration Agreement signed on July 18 at Darjeeling. The GTA, which replaced the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council formed in 1988, offered maximum possible autonomy to the hills under the central and state laws and Banerjee promised a package for the hills to push it on the road to development.
Then as stated in her election manifesto, the Chief Minister put forth the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, 2011. The act which was passed in the Assembly, marked a step towards returning the land of the Tata Motors small car factory at Singur to the farmers. In response to separate petitions by Tata Motors and its vendors, the Calcutta High Court ruled the Act as valid. The matter is now pending before a High Court division bench.
As regards relations with her ally at the Centre, Banerjee, is reportedly sore with the Congress over the inadequate help from the Centre to tide over the financial crisis bequeathed to her by the erstwhile Left Front government.
"The Centre has not given me a single paisa," Banerjee had said on Friday referring to her government's plea for a financial bailout package. She had earlier threatened to walk out of the UPA after petrol prices were raised, then clarified that her party would pull out if there was a further hike in prices of petro products.
Banerjee's latest outburst came after the Youth Congress led by its state president Mausam Noor and Deepa Dasmushi, MP, led a silent procession from Hazra, near the Trinamool chief's Kalighat residence in protest against the attacks on Congress workers and the perceived inaction of the police.
The anti-government protest significantly was held in the Kolkata South Lok Sabha constituency where by-elections are scheduled on November 30 with Trinamool Congress candidate Subrata Bakshi, the Transport minister and CPI(M)'s Ritabrata Banerjee being the main contenders.
The Trinamool Congress chief was quick to question the choice of venue for the rally and to underscore that her party, the second largest constituent of the UPA, was not dependent on the Congress in the state, while her ally depended on her party at the national level.
The Congress, on the other hand, has its own grouses. Recently a delegation, comprising MLAs, district presidents and PCC general secretaries, met Rahul Gandhi and the Congress Working Committee member in-charge of West Bengal Shakeel Ahmed in Delhi. They complained about their partymen being attacked by the Trinamool Congress and the fight across the state over party offices deserted by the CPI(M).
West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) president Pradip Bhattacharya told reporters "We are not indulging in anti-government activities. Congress workers are being attacked by the Trinamool Congress and we are only highlighting this."
Pointing out that the Congress was a partner in the coalition government in the state, he added, "We are a partner of the state government and we will remain so. Nobody had uttered a word criticising the Trinamool Congress. But we have not signed a bond that Congress will not agitate on its own.''
The Trinamool Congress chief, however, dismissed the Congress allegations and claimed that it was the Congress, which was attacking her party workers in several areas in the state. Mamata alleged her partyman was killed at Gajol in Malda district on Thursday. Such acts she said would only strengthen the hands of the CPI (M).
The government's purported decision to shift a hospital - on the lines of AIIMS in Delhi - from its proposed site in Raigunj, a Congress stronghold, to Kalyani in Nadia district, has also not gone down well with its ally at the Centre.
A section of the state Congress is also pressing the national leadership that the party should go it alone in the next year's panchayat polls and plan a stir against the state government's reported decision to entrust bureaucrats to take up development work in panchayats.
Also, with the Trinamool Congress lobbying for a coordination mechanism in New Delhi, WBPCC leader Abdul Mannan told reporters a similar body should be formed in the state as well.
As far as the Maoist problem is concerned Banerjee has so far thrice visited Maoist-hit Junglemahal and announced a slew of developmental programmes for the local people, especially tribals. The Chief Minister also formed a committee of interlocutors to negotiate with the ultras in a bid to bring them to talk to the government.
Despite her efforts, peace, however continues to elude the three Maoist-hit districts of West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia with a number of Trinamool Congress workers being killed by the insurgents. This has prompted the Chief Minister to order resumption of operations by the joint security forces.
To make matters worse for Mamata, a prominent Maoist leader Akash has rejected the temporary truce between the government and the ultras. The interlocutors have also expressed their willingness to resign. Banerjee, however, met the interlocutors on Saturday and persuaded them to continue.
When taking over chief minister Banerjee, concerned at the state's almost moribund health sector, announced that state-run facilities would henceforth not be able to refuse patients. But instead of improving the situation the measure created more problems with hospitals overflowing with patients which, in turn, affected services. The government has also drawn flak for the recent crib deaths at the B C Roy Paediatric Institute and the Burdwan Medical College.
But the most pressing issue for the West Bengal government remains the debt issue. With the government inheriting a debt burden of about Rs 2 lakh crore, Banerjee has sought to set the situation right by demanding a financial bailout package from the Centre. To this end, she held several rounds of meetings with Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee who had promised to work out short-term, mid-term and long-term solutions to surmount the problem. It is not, however, clear what the Centre will do to help the state.