Express News Service
KOLKATA: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday reiterated her stand on Opposition unity, saying there should be a one-to-one fight against the BJP to overthrow it from the Centre.
“All Opposition parties must unite. Let’s do a one-to-one fight against BJP. Whoever is strong in an area, should fight from there. I will be happy if BJP’s downfall starts from Karnataka elections, scheduled to be held this month,” said Mamata addressing a rally at Shamsherganj in Murshidabad.
The chief minister visited the areas affected by erosion on the banks of river Ganga. She alleged the Centre is not paying Bengal’s dues as part of a political vendetta.
“The Centre will not give us funds till the 2024 elections because we have been fighting against the BJP,” Mamata said. She also slammed the Central government over the alleged misuse of agencies against Opposition parties.
“The BJP has two things to say. One is ‘Thok Do (shoot at) and when they send central agencies, they tell them ‘Badnaam Kar Do (malign them). Officers of CBI and ED tell them that there is no case, they tell them Badnaam Kar Do. Agencies will not help them to fetch votes,” said the Bengal CM.
Mamata had recently met Opposition leaders, including Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Tejaswi Yadav at Nabanna, the state secretariat, and had expressed her desire for an Opposition meeting before the 2024 elections.
After coming to power for a third straight term in Bengal in 2021, Mamata raised her voice on the issue of Opposition parties’ unity to derail the BJP from the Centre.
She also held a meeting with Sonia Gandhi in Delhi. But her relationship with the Congress turned sour and it became public before the elections in Goa.
Mamata clearly said she would not accept Opposition parties’ unity under the leadership of Congress alleging the grand old party failed to retain its elected MLAs who defected to the BJP. She claimed TMC is the only political force which can defeat the BJP.
But she stood by Rahul Gandhi after his Lok Sabha membership was terminated and made it clear that she had no reservations on the issue of Opposition unity involving the Congress.
Mamata’s call for Opposition unity is said to be politically significant in the backdrop of the by-election in the Sagardighi Assembly constituency in Murshidabad district where Muslims constitute 68 per cent of the electorate. Though the minority electorates are considered as Trinamool Congress’s vote bank, the Congress snatched the seat which the grand old party lost in the 2011 Assembly elections.
Reacting to her party’s defeat, Mamata had said the by-election result was an isolated incident.
“Congress, Left Front and BJP joined hands to fight against the TMC. There is no reason to believe that minority electorates are changing their political allegiance. From now, we will fight alone against the BJP,” she had said.
After the by-election, BJP MLA and Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari had said the party knew that it wouldn’t win the seat. “We contested in the by-election to defeat the TMC,” he had said.
KOLKATA: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday reiterated her stand on Opposition unity, saying there should be a one-to-one fight against the BJP to overthrow it from the Centre.
“All Opposition parties must unite. Let’s do a one-to-one fight against BJP. Whoever is strong in an area, should fight from there. I will be happy if BJP’s downfall starts from Karnataka elections, scheduled to be held this month,” said Mamata addressing a rally at Shamsherganj in Murshidabad.
The chief minister visited the areas affected by erosion on the banks of river Ganga. She alleged the Centre is not paying Bengal’s dues as part of a political vendetta.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
“The Centre will not give us funds till the 2024 elections because we have been fighting against the BJP,” Mamata said. She also slammed the Central government over the alleged misuse of agencies against Opposition parties.
“The BJP has two things to say. One is ‘Thok Do (shoot at) and when they send central agencies, they tell them ‘Badnaam Kar Do (malign them). Officers of CBI and ED tell them that there is no case, they tell them Badnaam Kar Do. Agencies will not help them to fetch votes,” said the Bengal CM.
Mamata had recently met Opposition leaders, including Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Tejaswi Yadav at Nabanna, the state secretariat, and had expressed her desire for an Opposition meeting before the 2024 elections.
After coming to power for a third straight term in Bengal in 2021, Mamata raised her voice on the issue of Opposition parties’ unity to derail the BJP from the Centre.
She also held a meeting with Sonia Gandhi in Delhi. But her relationship with the Congress turned sour and it became public before the elections in Goa.
Mamata clearly said she would not accept Opposition parties’ unity under the leadership of Congress alleging the grand old party failed to retain its elected MLAs who defected to the BJP. She claimed TMC is the only political force which can defeat the BJP.
But she stood by Rahul Gandhi after his Lok Sabha membership was terminated and made it clear that she had no reservations on the issue of Opposition unity involving the Congress.
Mamata’s call for Opposition unity is said to be politically significant in the backdrop of the by-election in the Sagardighi Assembly constituency in Murshidabad district where Muslims constitute 68 per cent of the electorate. Though the minority electorates are considered as Trinamool Congress’s vote bank, the Congress snatched the seat which the grand old party lost in the 2011 Assembly elections.
Reacting to her party’s defeat, Mamata had said the by-election result was an isolated incident.
“Congress, Left Front and BJP joined hands to fight against the TMC. There is no reason to believe that minority electorates are changing their political allegiance. From now, we will fight alone against the BJP,” she had said.
After the by-election, BJP MLA and Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari had said the party knew that it wouldn’t win the seat. “We contested in the by-election to defeat the TMC,” he had said.
