The Trinamool Congress will not “disturb” the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre as long as it is given “respect,” party chief Mamata Banerjee said here on Sunday.
“We have not disturbed it in the past and will not do so in future as long as we are allowed to live with respect,” added Ms. Banerjee, who blamed the Congress for the break-up in the alliance for the civic polls in West Bengal.
Ms. Banerjee, whose party is part of the UPA government, has been critical of the Centre in the past on various issues.
She also made it clear that the government at the Centre was not one of the Congress but that of the UPA.
“It is not a Congress government; it is an alliance government” of various parties including the Trinamool Congress, she said.
“The Congress has 206 seats; not 276 [in Parliament]” she added, underlining the fact that it is singly far short of majority.
“As a major party it [the Congress] is leading the government; they have an advantage. But the Congress is not the government,” she pointed out.
She also said that the Trinamool had not made an issue of “not getting the share [in government] that is its due” as its political focus is on West Bengal.
