Kolkata:
A day after she took on the Centre and lodged her protest against Home Minister P Chidambaram's pet project on a new counter terror body, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today did not attend a function in her state that was inaugurated by the union minister.
Ms Banerjee's name was initially there on the programme brochure of an National Security Guard (NSG) hub inauguration function in Kolkata, but it was subsequently deleted. Trinamool Congress leader and Minister of State for Shipping Mukul Roy attended the function in her place.
The Trinamool chief was invited for the function but her office had reportedly informed the NSG that she would not be able to attend the event. When this was conveyed is still not clear.
Ms Banerjee's party and the Congress work together in the UPA coalition. Her absence was hence seen by many as a big snub amid strained ties between the key allies.
Yesterday, Congress' 'Frenemy No. 1', Mamata Banerjee, wrote to a letter to the Prime Minister asking him to "review and withdraw" the National Counter Terrorism Centre or NCTC, formally sanctioned by the government in an executive order earlier this month. The NCTC is the Home Minister's brainchild. He has treated the new hub as a priority since the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.
By writing to the PM, Ms Banerjee joined her counterparts from Odisha, Bihar, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu in alleging that the Centre's blueprint of the NCTC violates the principles of federalism by encroaching upon state government turf. The Big 5 insist that all state governments should have been consulted over the matter.
In her letter to the Prime Minister, Ms Banerjee said, "It is difficult for the state government to accept such arbitrary exercise of power by the central agency, which has a bearing on the rights and privilege of the states as enshrined in the Constitution."
At the function in Kolkata today, Mr Chidambaram said, "the central government is very happy to work with the state governments." He also thanked Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for the facilities at the hub. "I convey my thanks to the government under distinguished colleague Mamata Banerjee," he said.
The Counter Terrorism Centre, which will become functional on March 1, will have the power to swoop into any state, arrest suspects and fly them out of the state; it will not be obliged to consult the local government. Law and order is a state subject in India. The new agency will keep state police in the loop but need not seek permission from state governments before launching any operation.
Of the group of five chief ministers that interpret the new body as a violation of the rights of states, it is Ms Banerjee's criticism that no doubt rankles the most. She is a senior ally of the coalition at the Centre; that hasn't stopped her from siding often with opposition parties, in Parliament and outside, on some of the government's biggest new policies. Her anger over attempts to introduce reforms in the retail sector forced the government into a humiliating retreat days after announcing its new guidelines.
It's not just her opposition but the company that she is keeping that has the Congress in knots. Ms Banerjee has met recently with the BJP- both sides described it as a courtesy call, but there is talk of a political flirtation.
So speculation is surging about whether Ms Banerjee is using the campaign against the Counter Terrorism Centre to test-run a wider partnership.
Ms Banerjee's name was initially there on the programme brochure of an National Security Guard (NSG) hub inauguration function in Kolkata, but it was subsequently deleted. Trinamool Congress leader and Minister of State for Shipping Mukul Roy attended the function in her place.
The Trinamool chief was invited for the function but her office had reportedly informed the NSG that she would not be able to attend the event. When this was conveyed is still not clear.
Ms Banerjee's party and the Congress work together in the UPA coalition. Her absence was hence seen by many as a big snub amid strained ties between the key allies.
Yesterday, Congress' 'Frenemy No. 1', Mamata Banerjee, wrote to a letter to the Prime Minister asking him to "review and withdraw" the National Counter Terrorism Centre or NCTC, formally sanctioned by the government in an executive order earlier this month. The NCTC is the Home Minister's brainchild. He has treated the new hub as a priority since the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.
By writing to the PM, Ms Banerjee joined her counterparts from Odisha, Bihar, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu in alleging that the Centre's blueprint of the NCTC violates the principles of federalism by encroaching upon state government turf. The Big 5 insist that all state governments should have been consulted over the matter.
In her letter to the Prime Minister, Ms Banerjee said, "It is difficult for the state government to accept such arbitrary exercise of power by the central agency, which has a bearing on the rights and privilege of the states as enshrined in the Constitution."
At the function in Kolkata today, Mr Chidambaram said, "the central government is very happy to work with the state governments." He also thanked Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for the facilities at the hub. "I convey my thanks to the government under distinguished colleague Mamata Banerjee," he said.
The Counter Terrorism Centre, which will become functional on March 1, will have the power to swoop into any state, arrest suspects and fly them out of the state; it will not be obliged to consult the local government. Law and order is a state subject in India. The new agency will keep state police in the loop but need not seek permission from state governments before launching any operation.
Of the group of five chief ministers that interpret the new body as a violation of the rights of states, it is Ms Banerjee's criticism that no doubt rankles the most. She is a senior ally of the coalition at the Centre; that hasn't stopped her from siding often with opposition parties, in Parliament and outside, on some of the government's biggest new policies. Her anger over attempts to introduce reforms in the retail sector forced the government into a humiliating retreat days after announcing its new guidelines.
It's not just her opposition but the company that she is keeping that has the Congress in knots. Ms Banerjee has met recently with the BJP- both sides described it as a courtesy call, but there is talk of a political flirtation.
So speculation is surging about whether Ms Banerjee is using the campaign against the Counter Terrorism Centre to test-run a wider partnership.
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