Trinamool tight-lipped over support to UPA

The Trinamool Congress leadership is keeping its cards close to its chest in the face of speculation over its future in the United Progressive Alliance government following the party’s opposition to the series of reform measures announced recently by the Centre. “Some news is being spread that the Trinamool will do this or that… Some channel is saying that the Trinamool will withdraw support from the government… All such speculative stories are baseless,” Kunal Ghosh, party MP and close associate of West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee, told a private television channel. Ms. Banerjee has said that “hard decisions” will have to be taken unless the Centre rolled back before Tuesday its recent decisions to hike diesel prices, limit the supply of subsidised cooking gas cylinders and allow 51per cent foreign direct investment in the multi-brand retail sector. This stand of Ms. Banerjee, who led a protest march on Saturday seeking to distance her party from what she has described as the “anti-people” decisions of the Centre, has also fuelled speculation that the Trinamool might pull out from the government and support it from outside.