TMC plays down absence of leaders at PM's dinner

Kolkata: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Tuesday night tried to play down the absence of its top Parliamentary leaders and union ministers at a dinner hosted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for UPA allies in New Delhi.

TMC leader and party MP Derek O'Brien tweeted, "Dr Ratna Nag who attended the PM's dinner is our Deputy Leader in Lok Sabha. She is a lady and in our party. We respect all. She's a key member of the TMC."

The front-ranking leaders of TMC parliamentary group were conspicuous by their absence at the dinner.

Home Minister P Chidambaram also sought to play down the issue. He said, "TMC's representative was present in the meeting, the others are busy as the Bengal Assembly is on. Every party's representative was here."

At the dinner hosted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to keep the flock together on crucial financial business in Parliament, Finance Minister and Congress troubleshooter Pranab Mukherjee cautioned that amendments to the President's Address or cut motions to Budget could cost the government dearly.

"If we don't stand together, cut motions moved by the Opposition could pass. If we do not stick together the government could fall," Pranab told allies.

Highly placed sources said procedures were explained to the allies at the dinner meeting which top parliamentary leaders of Trinamool skipped and a backbencher of the party was present.

Mukherjee said actions like the amendment tabled by Trinamool seeking deletion of a paragraph on NCTC in the President's Address could prove costly to the government, the sources said.

Asking Trinamool not to insist on the amendment and withdraw it, he said the party was part of the ruling coalition and it was not proper for it to resort to such actions.

The Trinamool wants all references to the contentious National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) to be removed from the President's speech, stating that these were included despite objections raised by several states. Trinamool MP Kalyan Banerjee tabled amendment seeking deletion of paragraph on NCTC on Tuesday. (With additional information from PTI)