Mamata Banerjee with Somen Mitra at the Esplanade rally. Picture by Amit Datta

Calcutta, July 21: Mamata Banerjee will abstain from tomorrow’s trust vote in the Lok Sabha to ensure “equidistance” from the Congress and the BJP.

“I’m not going to Delhi for tomorrow’s trust vote as I want to maintain equidistance from the Congress as well as the BJP,” Mamata told a rally at Esplanade.

“I don’t want to vote for the Congress nor do I want to be seen voting against it alongside the BJP and the CPM. I feel ashamed about the horse trading in Delhi,” she added.

Mamata’s abstention will, however, help the Congress-led UPA, bringing the majority mark down.

The CPM said it was her way of helping the Congress.

“The UPA has been looking for such covert support to survive the trust vote,” said CPM state secretariat member Shyamal Chakraborty. “She is still trying to keep both the Congress-led UPA and the BJP-led NDA in good humour. This underlines her political opportunism once again.”

The Trinamul Congress chief may have lent a helping hand to the UPA to inch closer to the majority mark and the nuclear deal, but she is opposed to it nonetheless.

“The deal will make India’s interests subservient to those of the US,” she told the rally to mark the death of 13 Youth Congress activists in police firing 15 years ago.

“People are least bothered about the deal. They are more concerned about the price rise. So, instead of going ahead with the nuke deal, the government should first check the rate of inflation and reduce prices,” she added.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, she felt, “should seek a fresh mandate if he wants to go ahead with the deal”.

Mamata had so long remained non-committal on the trust vote. Yesterday, she said she had booked this evening’s air ticket for Delhi.

Party sources said she firmed up her move after Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh called her up twice. Some Congress central leaders had also apparently requested her not to vote.

Some of her aides reminded Mamata at a brief meeting this morning that her “secular image” would take a beating if she voted alongside the BJP.

“Minority community votes helped us wrest the East Midnapore and South 24-Parganas zilla parishads from the CPM this year. So, being bracketed with the BJP would have sent a wrong signal to our vote bank,” a Trinamul leader said.

Congress leader Subrata Mukherjee said Mamata’s decision to help the UPA would also bring her closer to the Congress. “There was a feeling in a section of the Congress that Somen Mitra had quit the party at Mamata’s prodding and that took a toll on our relations with Trinamul. But her decision not to vote against our government at the Centre is really encouraging. She is helping us win,” Mukherjee said.

Mamata’s “message that she is no longer with the BJP” would make it “easier for us to join forces with her for the Lok Sabha elections”, he added.

Trinamul’s reluctance to formally sever ties with the NDA had earlier stood in the way of an electoral alliance with the Congress.

A key Trinamul functionary said such doubts should now be cast away. Mamata’s decision “will definitely send a signal to our rank and file that they can tie up with the Congress to fight the communists”, he said.