Mamata to TMC leaders: If you want to join BJP, quit immediately and never come back

KOLKATA: Irked by the recent exodus from her party, Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Monday said that those who wanted to shift sides must quit immediately and the TMC’s door will remain shut for the turncoats in the future. 

She also alleged the defectors looted money and now joining the saffron camp to take refuge and save the loot from the central agencies.

Without naming any turncoat, Mamata said the defectors joined the saffron camp because they knew they would not be given tickets to contest in the upcoming Assembly elections. "Those who are thinking of jumping ship to the BJP, leave the TMC immediately. Remembers,the door of the party will remain closed for you even if you want to come back. It is the looters who made money are taking refuge in the BJP with an aim to turn their black money into white," she lashed out while addressing a public rally at Pursura in Hooghly district.

Referring to 'Jai Shri Ram' slogan in presence of Narendra Modi before her speech at a Netaji birth anniversary event in Kolkata two days ago, the Bengal CM said she was teased in front of the Prime Minister. Using the episode as a political tool, she accused the saffron camp of humiliating Netaji and insulting Bengali sentiment.

"Would you invite anyone to your house and then insult the person? Is this the culture of Bengal? If slogans hailing Netaji were raised, I would have had no problem. Some religious fanatics shouted slogans which were in no way related to any central government programme. I was insulated before the Prime Minister. This is their (BJP’s) culture," said Banerjee.

Sources in the TMC said the CM’s decision of not delivering a speech at the Netaji event was aimed politically to challenge BJP’s 'Atithi Debo Bhava' rhetoric as she was invited in the programme.

Hitting out at the saffron camp, which emerged as the ruling TMC’s arch-rivals in the crucial 2021 Assembly elections, the CM said the BJP should be rechristened as 'Bharat Jalao Party’.      

"The BJP is trying to ruin Bengal. They are dividing people on the line of religion. The party should be renamed as Bharat Jalao Party," she said.