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Congress on Friday night appeared to be in two minds on the issue of joining the government to be led by Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal.
Party top brass including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party chief Sonia Gandhi deliberated on Friday evening on the issue but there was no official word on the matter.
Mamata had earlier in the day invited Congress and other allies of Trinamool Congress to join the government. A section of party leaders are not the in favour of participating in the government given the fact that Trinamool Congress has got majority on its own and therefore it will not be wise to be dragged into decisions taken by Mamata.
However, another section of Congress feels it is "natural justice" that the party should take part in the state government because TC is a component of Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre.
Some Congress leaders are reluctant to speak up openly on the issue because the son of a senior leader is involved. The son has been elected a party MLA from the state.
Shakil Ahmed, incharge of party affairs in West Bengal, said "We are committed to giving unconditional support to the government headed by Mamata. But whether we will join the government or not will be decided after consultations with PCC leaders and newly-elected legislators".
A senior party leader, who declined to be identified, suggested that Congress' response in this regard would be cautious and depended upon the mind of the Trinamool leader.
At the AICC briefing, senior party leader Pranab Mukherjee said "this is an issue on which a decision has not been taken". He was asked whether Congress would participate in the government.
In the evening, the Congress Core Group meeting also attended by Mukherjee, Home Minister P Chidambaram, Defence Minister A K Antony and Gandhi's political secretary Ahmed Patel reviewed the election results.