Mamata Banerjee in Mumbai: What is UPA? There is no UPA

Mamata Banerjee meets Sharad Pawar in Mumbai, makes a pitch for unifying opposition parties to take on BJP and takes a dig at UPA.

Mumbai: Trinamool Congress (TMC) president and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said there was no United Progressive Alliance (UPA) left in the country and made a pitch for unifying opposition parties to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee meets NCP Chief Sharad Pawar and makes a pitch for unifying opposition parties to take on BJP and takes a dig at UPA. (ANI)

“What is UPA? There is no UPA,” Banerjee told reporters after meeting Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar at his residence on the second day of her three-day visit to Mumbai. On Tuesday, Banerjee met leaders of the Shiv Sena, the biggest constituent of Maharashtra’s ruling alliance that also comprises the NCP and Congress.

“Considering today’s situation and the ongoing fascism, a strong alternative force is required in the country against it. No one can do it alone. We all need a strong alternative and if someone is not ready to fight, then what can be done,” Banerjee said without naming the Congress.

“We want everyone to join this fight,” she added.

 

Pawar, however, said the intention was not to keep the Congress away but to take along everyone who wanted to be part of an “anti-BJP front”. “It is not about Congress. Those who are against BJP and if they want to come together, they are welcome,” Pawar said while addressing reporters along with Banerjee.

“Her (Mamata Banerjee) intention is to bring all like-minded parties together at national level for which she has come to Mumbai. We need a platform of collective leadership which is strong and can be relied upon by the people of the country. This thinking is not for today but for the 2024 (Lok Sabha) polls,” the NCP chief said.

The Bengal CM’s comments assume significance because she was a constituent of the Congress-led UPA, which was in power at the Centre between 2004 and 2014, and even served as the Union railways minister under then prime minister Manmohan Singh. Banerjee was a senior Congress leader before she left to form the TMC in 1998, fought several assembly elections in alliance with the Congress and was known to enjoy warm personal relations with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.

Earlier in the day, addressing a gathering of former judges, writers, film personalities and activists at YB Chavan Centre at Nariman Point, Banerjee launched a veiled attack on the Congress and its senior leader Rahul Gandhi.

“If you don’t do anything, if you stay abroad half the time, how will politics happen? You have to be in the field, if you are not in the field, the BJP will bowl you out,” she said.

“If somebody is afraid, if they cannot take a decision, they just waste time and allow the BJP to become more and more powerful… we will not allow that. We are watching for the last six to eight years, but if somebody is not coming out openly, then somebody (else) has to bell the cat,” said Banerjee.

The scathing remarks come amid growing distance between the Congress and TMC, which has poached several lawmakers and senior leaders from the former in its quest to expand its national footprint in recent months.

Banerjee attacked the Narendra Modi government, alleging that the BJP was misusing agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The TMC chief said even she and her family members were targeted as were film personalities like actor Shah Rukh Khan and director Mahesh Bhatt.

On Banerjee’s veiled remarks against the Congress leader, Pawar said she was speaking from experience. “In West Bengal, Mamata ji won because lakhs of TMC workers worked hard on the field. It is as simple as that. She has expressed her opinion based on personal experience which we also welcome,” the NCP chief said.

To a question of who would become the prime ministerial face if they managed to stich an alliance, Pawar said, “It is not an important issue for us. It is necessary to provide a platform that will be a strong alternative and can be relied upon. Who will lead it is a secondary thing.”

Replying to the same question, Banerjee said they had to first vote the BJP out to “save democracy” and then decide who would “become the Prime Minister based on the position of parties in the states”.

“If all the regional parties are together, it is a very easy game to defeat the BJP,” Banerjee said.

The Congress reacted sharply to the TMC chief’s remarks, saying a regional party cannot become an alternative to the BJP.

“Mamata Banerjee is herself not part of UPA, what locus standi does she have to comment on it? Congress party has governments in many states with several UPA constituent/partners,” said Pawan Khera, Congress national spokesperson.

Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole said, “Considering the severity of the situation, national interest must supersede personal ambition and all like-minded parties must join hands for national interest and to save democracy and the Constitution... A regional party that is confined to just one state cannot be an alternative to the BJP. The Congress is the only alternate to the BJP.”