Calcutta, Sept. 18: Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee tonight announced her decision to withdraw support to the UPA.

The Trinamul Congress ministers would meet the Prime Minister at 3pm on Friday and submit their resignations, Mamata declared after the party meeting that stretched on for over three hours here.

However, Mamata left a window ajar by saying that she could reconsider if the diesel price was reduced by Rs 3 to Rs 4 a litre, the cap on subsidised LPG cylinders was raised to 12 from six a year, fertiliser prices were reduced and the decision on FDI in retail was withdrawn.

“The UPA is hoping to survive with the support of Mayawati or Mulayam Singh Yadav. But sometimes somebody should bell the cat,” Mamata said. “We can fight our battle alone. We are not going with anyone.”

“You cannot solve problems by bandhs,” she said, referring to the Left and NDA shutdowns on Thursday. “We take decisions for the people and stand by it. That is the beauty of Trinamul and the duty of Trinamul,” Mamata said.

Mamata said although her party was the second largest partner in the UPA, it was neither given “respect” nor consulted on policy decisions.

“Prices are being raised by 100 per cent and then reduced by 2 per cent,” the Bengal chief minister said.

She also asked the Centre to bring back black money and help the country instead of raising prices and putting the livelihood of millions of retail traders at risk.

While the Trinamul meeting was going on, the Congress called Mamata a “valued colleague”, who had grown up in the “nursery of Congress” and would not do anything to create instability in the country.

“She is a valued colleague. She made a valuable contribution to the alliance and she has a long history of relationships and friendships with Congress party, because she grew up in the nursery of Congress and she had been one of the more admired leaders in the party before she founded her own party, the Trinamul Congress,” Union law minister Salman Khurshid said.

He was responding to questions about the possible course of action of the Trinamul chief on the diesel price hike and the cabinet decision to allow FDI in multi-brand retail.

Asked how the Congress is trying to reach out to Mamata, he said: “I can’t put my finger on and say that this is the particular method we would have used or we are using and who in particular is attempting or trying to persuade her.”

The law minister said though he did not want to forecast anything, he believed Mamata would take no step that would create instability.

“I am sure what she has been saying repeatedly that she does not want to contribute to any kind of instability, I am sure she actually means it and she will find a way of expressing it,” he said.

Khurshid also defended the government’s decision to allow more FDI, saying changes had to be made according to circumstances.

“Political parties all over the world transform themselves, change themselves to address the need of the circumstances around them. Why should Indian political parties not do the same?” he asked.

Before the meeting started, Trinamul leader Saugata Roy had indicated the party could pull out its ministers from the Union council of minister if its rollback demands on FDI in retail, cap on LPG subsidy and diesel price hike were not met.

Withdrawal of support from the government was, however, not discussed, Roy, also Union minister of state for urban development, said.

“Mamata Banerjee has not said any sort of withdrawal of support. We will take a tough decision if the Centre does not accept our demands. We have two commitments — to fight the anti-people decisions of the UPA government and see its stability. We have to strike a balance between the two,” he said.

The Centre was yet to make any offer to the Trinamul chief, Roy said around 4pm. “Hard decisions would be taken if the Centre does not accede to the demands (of Trinamul). There will be no soft compromise. We do not bark, we also bite.”

On Union finance minister P. Chidambaram’s statement that the government would not roll back the decisions, Roy said: “We know the Prime Minister has the last word.”

Trinamul sources said the parliamentary party meeting was an extended one with several senior party leaders and MLAs, including the state ministers, attending it.