Kolkata, January 20: Trinamool leader Mamata Banerjee showed her mercurial side on Tuesday when she decided to skip Jyoti Basu’s last journey, taking even her senior partymen by surprise.
The apparent reason is that she is still miffed about Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s closeness to chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, displayed during his visit to Kolkata to see the ailing CPM patriarch. Also on Tuesday, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi describing Basu as ‘comrade’ made her see red, sources said.
Sonia’s condolence message read: ‘‘On behalf of my party and my own behalf, I deeply mourn the demise of Comrade Basu, a great leader of great vision, political realism, conviction and dedication. He served his people, his country and his party with a great sense of objective selflessness. He will be missed by us always.’’
By staying away, the Trinamool Congress chief wanted to signal that she did not like Congress and CPM cozying up in Bengal. Also, Mamata did not want to be in the same room as chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and other CPM leaders, said Trinamool sources.
Mamata Banerjee had said on Monday that she did not want to ‘‘add to the crowd’’ by going to the assembly where Jyoti Basu’s body would lie in state. It was quite unexpected, even in her own party circles, because she had visited the CPM patriarch at AMRI hospital twice and again on the day he died (the last time, she stood outside until Buddhadeb had left). Mamata had even called on Basu at his home on several occasions — sometimes on a political mission, like Singur, and at times to wish him on his birthday.
But when the nation bade farewell to the legend, she stayed home.
While her party colleagues, including Leader of the Opposition Partha Chattopadhyay, paid homage to Basu, Mamata refused to budge from her stand.
On quote, Trinamool leaders would only say that Mamata took her ‘‘considered decision’’. Off the record, a senior Trinamool leader said, most of the senior party leaders were unhappy with Mamata’s decision. Some tried to persuade her to go but failed. They dared not press harder because Mamata does not like criticism, even the constructive type, a party source said.
-Agencies