Terror law: Trinamul tries to avoid double talk

kolkata: in its first show of open defiance by an ally, the trinamul congress defied parliamentary affairs minister pramod mahajan’s request and stayed away from voting on the prevention of terrorism ordinance in the lok sabha on monday. speaking to tnn before voting took place in the house, trinamul chief mamata banerjee said, “had we been outside the nda, we would have voted against the bill.being an nda ally, the parliamentary party decided to abstain,� said mamata. mahajan had written to all the nda allies, “requesting� each party to issue a three-line whip to ensure that lok sabha mps from the nda voted in favour of the bill. following its meeting on monday evening, however, the trinamul parliamentary party decided to ignore the request. the trinamul has also demanded a separate agency to combat terrorism-related issues. “right now, the central and state government agencies are dealing with the problem. the arrangement is not at all satisfactory,� she added. explaining her party’s stand, mamata said that respective state governments have been made the implementing agency for poto. “we are opposed to the bill on two grounds. first, we are apprehensive of its misuse in the hands of state governments. also, we cannot have double standards opposing poco in west bengal and supporting poto at the centre,� she asserted. the terror law is not the only contentious issue. in a letter to prime minister atal behari vajpayee, mamata made a scathing criticism of the general and the railway budgets. “some of the proposals in the general budget have delivered a serious blow to one-third of our population living below the poverty line,� mamata wrote. she said that the government was looking for money from the poor to subsidise the rich and demanded imposing a tax on political parties and leaders. “of late, the standard of living of many of us has improved more dramatically than a common man can reasonably expect...chartered aeroplanes are being used by some political parties while most villages are still inaccessible by all weather roads. while i have no basic objection to this new-found affluence, there is scope for political parties with huge assets to be suitably taxed...� the letter stated.