West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday expressed her willingness to resign as the deadlock with protesting junior doctors continued despite government's invitation to hold talks. The doctors have been on strike to demand justice for one of their colleagues who was raped and murdered at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on August 9. As the doctors refused to speak to the government, CM Banerjee said, "I am ready to resign for the sake of the people as, despite my best intentions and efforts in the last three days, the medics declined to hold talks."

The weeks-long impasse saw no end as the delegation of 32 doctors refused to enter the state secretariat for the talks with the chief minister. CM Banerjee, who allegedly waited for the doctors to enter the meeting hall for 2 hours, said, "I apologise to the people of Bengal who expected an end to the RG Kar impasse today. They (junior doctors) came to Nabanna but did not sit for the meeting. I request them to go back to work."

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"We have been waiting for two hours to meet our brothers and sisters among the doctors. We had written to them and they said they would come... and that is why we made these arrangements. The Chief Secretary, the Director-General of Police, Home Secretary... were all here," said Banerjee.

The West Bengal chief minister further clarified that since the RG Kar rape and murder case was sub judice, the meeting could not be live-streamed as requested by the junior doctors. However, she claimed the government planned to video record the discussions, which could have been shared with the doctors with the Supreme Court’s permission.

Banerjee said that she had made three attempts to engage in talks with the junior doctors to resolve the stalemate at RG Kar Medical College, but to no avail.

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Expressing concern over the impact of the strike, the West Bengal CM claimed that 27 people had lost their lives and around 7 lakh patients were suffering due to the doctors' work stoppage.

Mamata Banerjee stated that despite the ongoing agitation by junior doctors, she would not take any action against them. "I will still not take any action against agitating junior doctors, will forgive them since we are elders," she said.