Trinamool Congress, with 18 members in the Lok Sabha, is the largest ally of the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre. The party has six Rajya Sabha MPs.
After the meeting with the PM, the MPS would head to Kolkata, tomorrow, and report to Mamata, who will take the final call.
Importantly, the TMC parliamentary party has already authorized the party chief to take the decision in the matter the parliamentary party had decided on November 4 to pull out of the government if there was no rollback.
While the Congress is part of the TMC government in West Bengal, Mamata-led party is not depending on Congress for an absolute majority in the state. However, the Congress depends on TMC for a majority at the Centre.
Reports claimed on Monday that Trinamool may go slow on its agitation against the fuel price hike if the Centre responds positively to West Bengal government’s demand for a special financial package to the tune of Rs 20,000 crore.
Although Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee does favour a package for the debt-ridden state but he says that the Centre can only give Rs 9,000 crore. But Mamata wants Centre to treat the state "differently" and has sought a debt restructuring plan.
Today around the same time when TMC MPs would meet the PM in Delhi to press for a rollback of the recent hike in petrol price, Pranab Mukherjee may meet West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC boss Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata to discuss the financial package.
Besides the Chief Minister, Mukherjee would also meet West Bengal Governor MK Narayanan to discuss the state's financial issues.
It remains to be seen whether Mukherjee’s position on the ‘package’ will have any bearing on the stand taken by the TMC on the issue of fuel price hike.
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