TNI Bureau: The government tried to suppress the public outrage by announcing that it will increase the cap on subsidised cooking gas cylinders from 6 to 9 per year for every family in the Congress-ruled states. The decision taken by UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi can be termed as “master stroke” after Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress pulled out of the government yesterday in protest.
The decision was taken at party’s core group meeting headed by Sonia Gandhi today. It suggested that people of 11 states where Congress is ruling, will get the benefits of three more LPG cylinders at subsidised rates.
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Meanwhile, the Congress is trying to convince Mamata-led TMC to be part of the alliance. Even Congress claimed that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had had contacted Mamata over the issue. But the TMC chief denied talking with him.
However, Mamata rejected the report addressing a press conference today. She requested media to stop spreading rumours. She denied that PM had contacted her. Regarding the Bharat Bandh call by the NDA, she said that she does not believe in bandh politics as it will not fulfill any purpose.
The TMC has been demanding to withdraw FDI in retail and to increase the cap of LPG cylinders to 12 per year. Yesterday, she made it clear that the party will not support the government anymore and all its ministers will submit their resignation letters on Friday.