New Delhi: As tensions escalated between the UPA and key alliance partner Trinamool Congress, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Friday tried to soothe the frayed ties, saying he was confident that “temporary problems” with allies would be overcome.
“We have our problems but I am confident that if we have the will and determination, we will overcome these temporary problems,” he said at a joint press interaction with Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar, who is on a 10-day visit to India.
He, however, did not name the Trinamool, which forms the second largest United Progressive Alliance (UPA) partner with 19 MPs.
He was asked whether the UPA government’s development agenda was being affected as its coalition partners appeared to create problems for them.
The Congress-Trinamool ties have remained uneasy since Banerjee joined the UPA after the 2009 Lok Sabha election.
She has bitterly opposed and blocked some of the key policies and bills of the UPA government, including the anti-corruption Lokpal bill.
Banerjee is also mainly responsible for the central government’s backtracking on the foreign direct investment plan in retail sector after she raised a red flag against the key reform measure.
She has vowed to keep opposing the Lokayukta provision in the Lokpal legislation, which she fears will intrude into the autonomy of the state.
The current provocation for the uneasy ties between the two partners was the West Bengal government’s proposal to rename a building named after late prime minister Indira Gandhi. Banerjee wants the Kolkata-based Indira Bhavan – where Indira Gandhi stayed in 1972 – to be named after rebel poet Kazi Nazrul Islam.
Ignoring the discontent among its state party unit, the Congress central leadership Friay seemed ready to offer an olive branch.
Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi hoped that there could be a convergence of views with the Trinamool. (IANS)