Support Mamata against BJP’s divisive tactics: TMC urges Congress, Left parties

THE trinamool Congress (TMC) on Wednesday appealed to the Congress and the Left Front to support Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal against the “communal and divisive tactics of the BJP” in the upcoming Assembly elections.

With the Assembly election just months away, several frontline party leaders and ministers resigned from TMC and joined the BJP. It is in this scenario that the TMC has reached out to the Left parties and the Congress – that are forging a separate coalition against TMC and BJP – to support the ruling party to defeat the “communal and divisive force, BJP.”

Saugata Roy said that TMC chief Mamata Banerjee was the “real face of secular politics”. Roy also claimed that the BJP-led government at the Centre had not been able to work on any project successfully.

“If the Left Front and the Congress are genuinely anti-BJP, they should support Mamata Banerjee in her fight against the communal and divisive politics of the saffron party,” he said.

However, both the CPM and the Congress rejected the TMC’s appeal. At a joint press conference addressed by CPM leader Sujan Chakraborty and Congress leader Abdul Mannan, Chakraborty said, “The TMC has no spine to fight against a communal force like the BJP. The TMC never wants to fight against BJP and the BJP also never wanted to fight against TMC. Today’s appeal only proved that, in this state, Congress and Left Front coalition is the only alternative to the TMC and BJP.”

“Only a few days ago, TMC leaders were saying that Left and Congress have become signboards. Now, they are asking for support. That means they have realised that their politics became irrelevant,” Mannan said.