Mamata offers to quit as docs refuse to relent
KOLKATA: The drama over the stalled conciliation talks between the agitating junior doctors and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee escalated on Thursday, after the latter offered to resign “for the sake of people” and expressed regret over the protestors’ refusal to come for talks to resolve the impasse over the RG Kar rape-murder case.
Banerjee, who waited for nearly two hours for the agitating doctors to come for the meeting, said she also wanted the victim to get justice, and apologised to the people of West Bengal for the continued deadlock.
“We have tolerated a lot of canards and insults for the last 33 days,” she said at a press conference but assured the protesters that despite violating the Supreme Court directive by not resuming duties, she would not take action against them.
The agitating junior doctors, who reached the gates of the secretariat, refused to hold talks unless their demand for live streaming of the meeting was met.
The talks were to be held at 5 pm in the presence of Banerjee as demanded by the protesters, who after reaching the secretariat around 5.25 pm, stayed put at the venue gate.
Banerjee said the meeting cannot be live-streamed as the issue is before the Supreme Court. She said her government had made arrangements to record it and hand over the recording to them with the permission of the SC if needed.
“For the sake of the people, I am ready to resign. I also want the victims to get justice, but this is not the
The agitating doctors who reached the gates of the secretariat refused to hold talks unless their demand for live streaming of the meeting was met
way… I thought the junior doctors would engage in talks for the sake of the patients,” she said.
“We have been waiting for over two hours, hoping that reason would guide the junior doctors... I apologise to the people, who expected that the issue would be resolved today,” she said and claimed that “external instructions” were influencing some junior doctors.