Nov. 21: Mamata Banerjee will reach Delhi tomorrow on a four-day trip that is apparently aimed at removing the perception that Trinamul is considering parting ways with the Congress.

Today, the Trinamul chief instructed party leaders to refrain from commenting on yesterday’s Congress panchayati raj convention in Calcutta, where Trinamul had come in for criticism.

Although officially, the chief minister will visit Delhi to take part in the Bengal “State Day” celebrations at the India International Trade Fair on November 24, sources said she would reach two days earlier to “build bridges” with the Congress and also to seek the co-operation of bureaucrats for the development of Bengal.

Trinamul sources ruled out the possibility of further escalating the tension with the Congress, saying Mamata was likely to meet the Prime Minister and other key central ministers and make it clear that she was not considering pulling out of the UPA.

“Mamata is not going to spoil her relations with the Centre because of the tension with Bengal Congress leaders. Such things happen in politics,” a Trinamul MP said. “The Congress and Trinamul need each other and none would gain anything by precipitating a minor crisis,” he added.

The chief minister will organise a dinner for Bengal-cadre IAS officers, including Manmohan Singh’s principal secretary Pulok Chatterjee, and other prominent Bengali bureaucrats in Delhi on Thursday to “seek their assistance” for Bengal’s development. Mamata had organised such dinners as railway minister but Thursday’s event gains significance because of Chatterjee’s inclusion in the guest list.

The Trinamul leadership said Mamata would not be on the back foot even though she was not in favour of aggravating the tension with the Congress’s central leadership. “She will assert her strength as the second-largest partner in UPA II and demand her pound of flesh,” a Trinamul source said. The chief minister has on several occasions sought the Centre’s help to bail out the cash-strapped state and is likely to pitch for it during her Delhi trip too.

A Trinamul leader in Calcutta said Mamata had asked the leadership to remain mum on the Congress meeting at Netaji Indoor Stadium because she was a “dependable” ally. “Time and again, she has proved to the Congress that she is a dependable and trustworthy ally. At the same time, she wants to make it clear that Trinamul cannot be taken for granted,” the leader said.

After a Youth Congress padayatra against Trinamul in Calcutta on Friday, Mamata had asked the ally to decide whether it wanted to stay with her party at the Centre and in the state.

Mamata will “hold a class” for Trinamul MPs tomorrow in Delhi, where she will speak about the party’s stand in the House in the winter session. She will visit Parliament on Wednesday and speak to leaders of several parties to “gauge the crisis the UPA government is facing over corruption and price rise”.