The Trinamool Congress on Wednesday appealed to the Left Front and Congress to join West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee in the fight against the “communal and divisive” politics of the BJP. However, both parties have rejected this advice head-on.
At the same time, the Congress has offered the Trinamool Congress after the advice that it merge with the party (Congress) instead of forming an alliance for the fight against the BJP.
The BJP, which is growing strongly in the state, says that Trinamool’s offer shows that it does not have the ability to compete with the saffron party on its own in the upcoming assembly elections in West Bengal in April-May.
Senior Trinamool MP Saugata Roy told reporters: “If the Left Front and the Congress are really against the BJP, they should support Mamata Banerjee in the fight against the communal and divisive politics of the saffron party.”
He said that Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee is “the real face of secular politics against BJP”.
On the proposal of Trinamool Congress, State Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary blamed the ruling party for the BJP’s strength in the state.
“We are not interested in an alliance with the Trinamool Congress,” he said. After buying our MLAs for the last 10 years, why Trinamool Congress is interested in coalition now. If Mamata Banerjee is willing to fight against the BJP, she should join the Congress as it is the only nationwide platform to fight against communalism. ”
Banerjee split the Congress and founded the Trinamool Congress in 1998.
Senior CPI (M) leader Sujan Chakraborty wondered why the Trinamool Congress was desperate for an alliance with the Left Front and the Congress after the Congress was declared a negligible political force in the state. He also said that BJP is also trying to woo the Left Front.
“It shows that he (Left Front) is still important,” he said. The Left Front and the Congress will defeat both the Trinamool Congress and the BJP in the assembly elections. ”
On the development, West Bengal BJP President and Lok Sabha member Dilip Ghosh said that this reflects the ‘desperation’ of the Trinamool Congress.
He said, “They (Trinamool Congress) cannot fight us alone, so they are asking for help from other parties.” This proves that the BJP is the only alternative to the Trinamool Congress. ”
After losing badly in the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress and the Left Front have decided to contest the Assembly elections together. The CPM-led Left Front did not get any seat in the Lok Sabha elections, while the Congress got only two seats from West Bengal out of its total 42 seats.
On the other hand, BJP had got 18 seats while Trinamool Congress got 22 seats.
In the 2016 Assembly elections in the state, Congress and Left Front alliance got 76 seats out of total 294 while Trinamool Congress got 211 seats.
