Did Trinamool Chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee get anything by protesting against the recent petrol price hike? Perhaps nothing except proving once again that she has a mercurial temper
Did Trinamool Chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee get anything by protesting against the recent petrol price hike? Perhaps nothing except proving once again that she has a mercurial temper. 
Earlier this year, she did something similar during the PM's visit to Bangladesh, when she refused to be a part of his entourage, and that too publicly.
Her political opponents say she was in Manmohan Singh's cabinet when petrol prices were being decontrolled. Why didn't she oppose it then? Did the West Bengal CM throw a fit just to get a bailout package for her state? Many political pundits agree.
The drama has ended, for now, with Trinamool Congress leaders seemingly in conciliatory mode on Tuesday evening.
At the end of a 45-minute meeting with the PM, TMC MPs told the media that they have accepted the hike for now, but threatened to pull out if there was another raise.
Meanwhile, Mamata gave the same message to Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in Kolkata. But the bottom-line is that the party, which has 18 MPs in the Lok Sabha, got no assurance on rollback of the hike of
Rs 1.80.
What happens to this coalition remains to be seen. But Mamata has given enough indications that the Congress should not take her for granted. And if forced, she can add fire to the fuel.
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