On Mamata Banerjee's Clarion Call To Join Forces Against 'Enemy' BJP, CPI(M), Congress Say 'Absolutely Not'

(MENAFN- Live Mint) Few days after Trinamool Congress' 15-year rule ended in West Bengal, former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee issued a clarion call for all Opposition parties to join her as a force against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). But the 'street fight' this time failed to gain any momentum as the Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) rejected the call to unite against the saffron camp.

State Congress spokesperson Soumya Aich Roy said,“We can't believe our ears. You [Banerjee] invited national parties, indicating the Congress, Left and the ultra-Left to join you. What do you mean by ultra-Left? Do you mean the Maoists, who killed 18 Congress leaders and workers in Chhattisgarh on May 25, 2013?”

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who has been one of the vocal critics of Mamata Banerjee, said the former Bengal chief minister was seeking support from all the parties she once tried to destroy.

Adhir Ranjan said,“All the violence in Bengal during Mamata Banerjee's rule will now have consequences. She tried hard to destroy Congress and secular spaces in Bengal, and today she herself is facing punishment, seeking support because her strength has faded” and demanded that she accepts Rahul Gandhi as INDIA bloc leader.

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“Only then will we consider anything,” he said.

CPI(M) state secretary Md Salim, speaking on Mamata Banerjee's proposal, said,“Absolutely not. We will not accept anyone identified as criminal, extortionist, corrupt and communal. We will stand by the people and the marginal population.”

On Saturday, May 9, Suvendu Adhikari took oath as the Chief Minister of Bengal in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and other chief ministers of the BJP-ruled states.

What Mamata Banerjee said

As Suvendu Adhikari became the first BJP chief minister in the state, Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee appealed to all opposition parties in West Bengal to come together to form a“joint platform” to fight the BJP, reminding them that the first enemy is the saffron camp.

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She said,“I call upon all opposition parties, including the Leftists and the ultra-Left, to come together to form a joint platform against the BJP.”

“It is not the time to think the enemy's enemy is my friend, our first enemy is the BJP,” she said, while addressing a small gathering in front of her Kalighat residence, while observing poet Rabindranath Tagore's birth anniversary.

Mamata Banerjee said,“Hooliganism is going on at places, bad elements have entered their (BJP) ranks,” as she emphasised that she did not allow atrocities against anyone after coming to power in 2011.

The BJP stormed into power in West Bengal, winning 207 seats in the 294-member assembly to form its first government in the state, while the TMC secured 80 seats.

(With inputs from agencies)

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