Banerjee Chief Minister of India’s eastern state of West Bengal gestures during news conference in Kolkata
Mamata Banerjee, Chief Minister of India’s eastern state of West Bengal, gestures during a news conference after a meeting of her Trinamool Congress party (TMC) in Kolkata September 18, 2012. The biggest ally in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government pulled out of the ruling coalition on Tuesday, escalating a political firestorm over big-ticket reform measures launched last week to revive India’s flagging economy. Banerjee had demanded the government reverse its decision to raise diesel prices and open the supermarket sector to investment from foreign chains such as Wal-Mart Stores. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri (INDIA – Tags: BUSINESS POLITICS FOOD)