“Willing To Resign”, Said Mamata Banerjee Amid Stand-Off With Doctors

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she was not enamoured of the top post in the state and was ready to step down “in the interest of the people”.

Assuring the agitating doctors that no action will be taken against them, she said the government is always ready for a dialogue.

“In the interest of the people, I am ready to step down. I do not want the post of the Chief Minister. I want justice for Tilottama. And I want common people to get medical treatment,” the Chief Minister said at a press conference after waiting two hours for the junior doctors’ delegation.

The doctors’ delegation had come till the gate of the secretariat for the meeting that was expected to begin at 5 pm on Thursday. But they refused to enter as the government had refused one of their demands – the live transmission of the proceedings. The government, the Chief Minister had said, could not allow live transmission  since the matter is being heard by the Supreme Court.

“I know many in the delegation were interested in talks. But two of three people were giving instructions from outside. We have all that. We could see that because it was being recorded by the press, which were standing right behind… They were giving instructions – ‘Do not negotiate, do not go to the meeting’,” Mamata Banerjee said.

Thursday’s aborted meeting comes more than a month of face-off between the doctors and the state government over the rape-murder of a young doctor at RG Kar Medical College on August 9.