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‘They didn’t take politics seriously’: Mamata’s fresh jibe at Congress in Goa
West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee renewed her attack on the Congress accusing the party of being incapable of taking on the BJP whilst also backing the comments by political strategist Prashant Kishor who made similar comments two days ago at a private function in Goa
West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee renewed her attack on the Congress accusing the party of being incapable of taking on the BJP whilst also backing the comments by political strategist Prashant Kishor who made similar comments two days ago at a private function in Goa.
Speaking during a breakfast interaction with media persons, Banerjee said that while it wasn’t her business to be talking about the affairs of other parties, she slammed the Congress for contesting against her in the recently concluded West Bengal Assembly Elections and said that they should not expect flowers in return.
“I cannot say everything right now because they didn’t take politics seriously,” she responded when asked whether she would consider being part of a larger grand alliance that included the Congress to take on the BJP in 2024.
“Modiji is going to be so powerful because of Congress. If one cannot make a decision, why should the country suffer for that? They have got enough opportunities. Instead of BJP, they contested against me in my state. How do they expect that they will contest me and we will only give flowers and sweets to them?” Mamata said.
“I want to see that all regional parties are strong. We are a union of states and the federal structure should be strong. If the state is strong, the centre is strong. Delhi ka dadagiri anik naka (We don’t want bullying from Delhi anymore). Enough is enough,” Mamata said.
“We want committed people, the committed local political parties who are really fighting, who really want to fight against the BJP, let us work together,” she added.
Backing comments made by political strategist Prashant Kishor, Banerjee said that his comments were a reflection of the present scenario.
“You have taken one side of his comments. I believe that he has said that if the BJP is to be defeated, then you can’t be going about it like the Congress. That’s not how the BJP will be defeated. He has said that if the BJP is to be fought, it has to be fought strongly,” Banerjee said.
Her comments came on the second day of her three-day visit to the state. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is also in the state visiting, meeting and interacting with people.
Banerjee also took on the BJP for a host of issues including sky-high fuel prices, low vaccination rates, the farmers’ protest and harassment of dissidents.
“First you (BJP) increase the price (of fuel) and then ask us to reduce? Why are you increasing the price? We never increased the price. Are you not even worried about the country? Is there no worry for you?” she asked.
“The farmers are sitting for one year in protest. The BJP is not even looking at them. What all lies about vaccines. So many people have not even taken one dose of the vaccine. Only 29% of the people have taken both doses but we have 1.3 billion people, where has it all gone? What about the PM Cares Fund? The central government has taken money from the employees from every sector. And it’s not even going to be audited and if I question then they will send the ED to my house or CBI,” she added.
Banerjee spent the day visiting the Basilica of Bom Jesus besides also visiting a market in north Goa and giving a brief speech.
Earlier in the day, she met Goa Forward party members Vijai Sardesai on the back of having met members of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and a bunch of independents.
“She made a statement that all have to go together and throw out the BJP. To welcome this proposal, I and my MLAs had come together to meet her because, for the last two years, I have been saying that Team Goa has to fight to take on the BJP. We have to take it to the next gear. We came here to speak about how we can take this proposal forward. She has given her opinion on this. Our party will think about this and make a decision,” Sardesai said after emerging from the meeting with Banerjee.
Meanwhile, the BJP has dispatched Member of Parliament from Bangalore, Tejaswi Surya, to counter Banerjee’s Goa visit and accused her of terrorism, mafia and corruption (TMC) to counter her temple, mosque, church acronym in Goa.
