Keeping the media guessing whether she would attend the Lok Sabha for the crucial trust vote, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee said on Sunday she would publicly announce a decision in this regard on Monday.
"A section of the media has said that I am not attending the Lok Sabha for the trust vote. I can tell you that I have not spoken to the media in the matter and whatever they have written is their own opinion," Banerjee told media-persons. Banerjee said she had booked two tickets for Delhi on Monday and any decision regarding her attendance in the Lok Sabha during the trust vote would be taken by the party collectively. Describing Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee's decision not to resign from the post as 'politically and conventionally unethical', Banerjee said, "He will probably resign on July 23. If the teacher does something wrong, what can you expect from the students?" Banerjee said she was expecting a gathering of nearly 50,000 at the Trinamool-sponsored Martyrs Day rally on Monday in the memory of 13 party activists killed in police firing in 1993. "The day will also be observed as Save Democracy Day. The families of those killed in 1993, the families of the martyrs of Nandigram, Singur, Choto Angaria and Nanur will also be there," Banerjee claimed.During the past week, Banerjee has maintained that she was not in favour of toppling the government and a decision on the matter would be taken only after it was discussed within her party after Monday's programme.
Banerjee, who is the sole member of her party in the Lok Sabha, recently said she would take a decision on the matter keeping in mind the interests of the people of West Bengal.
Sources close to her in New Delhi said she was likely to arrive in the national capital only on Tuesday, the last day of the special session of Parliament. Banerjee has earlier given enough indications of supporting the United Progressive Alliance government's stand on the nuclear issue by stating that the government could not be faulted for withholding the text of the India-specific safeguard agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency from the Left parties. "Such documents which concern the country's defence are so secret in nature that they cannot be shared with anybody outside the government," she said in Kolkata recently.
