Cong free to leave Mamata govt: Trinamool minister

A Trinamool Congress minister on Saturday said ally Congress was free to quit the Mamata Banerjee ministry government in West Bengal.

"The Congress is free to leave the government if they want," Firhad Hakim said on the sidelines of a meeting in Howrah.

Referring to West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee President Pradip Bhattacharya's threat to withdraw Congress ministers from the government after Mamata's rejection of United Progressive Alliance presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee, Hakim said, "Such a call is coming from PCC leaders who did not get any ministerial berth but not from Congress ministers."

Trinamool Congress senior vice-president Subrata Mukherjee had on Friday said that it was for the ally to decide what it wanted to do but Trinamool Congress would not drive them away as it believed in coalition norms.

Trinamool Congress deputy leader in the Assembly and Commerce Minister Partha Chatterjee said the issue would not affect the state government.