Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Monday discounted reports that she was unhappy with the coal portfolio that has been offered to her after reinduction into the Cabinet.
Mamata said she will abide by whatever Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee decides.
"This is not true. I am very happy. So is my party," she told reporters at Rashtrapati Bhavan shortly after being sworn in.
"Ministry or no ministry, it does not matter. I am not going to fight for any portfolio," said Banerjee, who had quit as railway minister two years ago over the Tehelka expose.
Sources in the Prime Minister's Office, however, told PTI that when Banerjee met Vajpayee on Sunday she was declined to accept the coal portfolio. She preferred to remain a minister without portfolio, the sources added.
Asserting that her party had always supported the NDA, Banerjee said she had 'great respect for the prime minister' and will do whatever she was directed to do. "I cannot say no to the prime minister," she added.
Asked what transpired during her meeting with the prime minister, she shot back: "I cannot talk about it outside. It is totally confidential."
"I will ask her in your presence here," Vajpayee said light heartedly on being asked whether Banerjee could create problems for him.
