Hyderabad: AICC in-charge for Telangana and former Union minister Deepa Das Munshi slammed West Bengal chief minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee on her call to go solo in West Bengal, in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, thereby drawing an end to alliance math in Bengal with the Congress.
“…I think she is indirectly helping the BJP. We already know that she has a tacit understanding with BJP and this decision has proved that. She was in INDIA for so long and now she has changed her opinion. So, this is proving that she is in hand with BJP and she will help them in Bengal,” she said, speaking to ANI on Wednesday, January 24.
The TMC’s call led to a major setback for the opposition INDIA bloc in which the Mamata-led party is a major player.
“I had no discussions with the Congress party. I have always said that in Bengal, we will fight alone. I am not concerned about what will be done in the country but we are a secular party and in Bengal, we will alone will defeat BJP.” the TMC supremo said.
“I gave many proposals but they rejected them from the beginning. From then, we have decided to fight the elections in Bengal alone.”
The Bengal Chief Minister also claimed she had not been informed of Rahul Gandhi’s Nyay Yatra passing through Bengal, contrary to claims by the Congress that they had invited INDIA bloc parties to join the Yatra.
“They did not even bother to inform me that they will be coming to West Bengal as a matter of courtesy even though I am a part of the INDIA bloc. So there is no relation with me as far as Bengal is concerned” Mamata Banerjee said.
“We will decide on what to do at the all-India level. We are a secular party. We will do whatever we can to defeat the BJP. The alliance does not comprise any one party. We have said that they should fight in some states and the regional parties should be left to fight alone in the other states. They should not interfere” she added.
The breakdown in Trinamool and the Congress came after state unit chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdury continued his attack on the Bengal Chief Minister.
In a news conference on Tuesday, Adhir Chowdhury claimed that in the 2011 elections, Mamata Banerjee came to power with the mercy of Congress.
“This time, the elections will not be fought at the mercy of Mamata Banerjee. The Congress defeated the BJP and TMC in the two seats that Mamata Banerjee is leaving. The Congress party knows how to contest the elections. Mamta Banerjee is an opportunist; she came to power in 2011, with the mercy of Congress,” the Congress MP said.
BJP’s reaction
The BJP on Wednesday said West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee’s decision to “go solo” in the Lok Sabha polls is a sign of her desperation and “death knell” for the INDIA’ alliance of the opposition parties.
Reacting to the development, BJP co-incharge for West Bengal and IT department head Amit Malviya said in a post on X, “Mamata Banerjee’s decision to fight alone in West Bengal is a sign of desperation. Unable to hold her political ground, she wants to fight all seats, in the hope that she can still be relevant, after the polls.”
“Much against her desire to emerge as the face of the Opposition alliance, no one ever proposed her name. Her several trips to Delhi, to build a national profile, didn’t work. She just couldn’t hide the blood of post poll violence and rid herself of the nauseating stink of appeasement politics, Malviya said.
“An embarrassed Mamata, to save face, pitched for Mallikarjun Kharge, ruling herself out in the process. She realised, despite her bluster, she had no currency in the Opposition camp and had been building ground to snap out for long. But the fact that her announcement to go solo comes just before Rahul Gandhi’s circus arrives in Bengal is a death knell for the I.N.D.I. Alliance,” he added.
BJP national spokesperson Nalin Kohli said it is a “paper alliance” and Banerjee’s comments have made it clear that it has no clarity in its agenda and no leadership.
Taking a jibe at the TMC and INDIA bloc of opposition parties, another BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said, “Before political marriage could fructify Talaq is done, Mamata didi declares no alliance in Bengal.”
“On one hand Ram Mandir (was) built, but INDI structure demolished on a daily basis,” Poonawalla added.
Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) president Tejasvi Surya described the INDIA bloc as an “unnatural alliance between a snake and a mongoose”, noting that its parties have been fighting one another in different states.
The Left and the Congress fight in Kerala, and the AAP and the Congress fight in Punjab and Delhi, he told reporters, adding that such an “unnatural” alliance is bound to meet a “natural” death.
This alliance was a “non-starter” from the first day, the head of the BJP’s youth wing said.
