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BJP leaders calling veteran TMC members, trying to break party: CM Mamata Banerjee
Since a section of TMC leaders have expressed their disgruntlement against the party’s top leadership, speculations are rife that some may join the BJP
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is calling up veteran leaders of the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, including the party’s state president, in a bid to break the party, TMC chief Mamata Banerjee said on Wednesday while tagging BJP leader as dacoits from Chambal.
“BJP called up Subrata Bakshi, TMC’s state president and a Rajya Sabha MP, and tried to fix a meeting. Anubrata Mondol (another TMC veteran) called me up from Birbhum district and said he received a call from a BJP leader from Delhi who wanted to fix a meeting. Look at the audacity and the extent to which BJP can go. How dangerous? They don’t have the minimum courtesy,” said Banerjee while addressing a rally.
Since a section of TMC leaders has expressed their disgruntlement against the party’s top leadership, speculations are rife that some may join the BJP. While an MLA from north Bengal has already switched sides, former Cabinet minister and TMC heavyweight legislator Suvendu Adhikari is also expected to join the BJP during Union home minister Amit Shah’s visit to the poll-bound state later this week.
Some BJP leaders had, in the past, named at least seven TMC leaders who may quit the party anytime to join the BJP. On Wednesday, BJP rubbished the allegations made by the chief minister that their leaders had called up TMC leaders.
“What if I say that Mamata Banerjee called me up and tried to fix a meeting? When a CM or a party head is saying something, she should have some evidence. Actually, she knows that the TMC has reached its end and hence, she is making such statements,” said Sayantan Basu, BJP’s state general secretary.
The TMC chief also sent a strong message to rebels within the party, saying that those who joined the party in the initial days will stay till the end, while a section of the leaders would come and go with the tidal waters.
“There shouldn’t be any difference within the party. Work together because that would help us to win. Ground level and mid-level party workers would have to come forward and take responsibility,” Banerjee said, while addressing a workers’ rally at Cooch Behar (south) assembly constituency in north Bengal. The MLA of Cooch Behar (south) has recently joined the BJP.
North Bengal is crucial for both the TMC and the BJP after the latter wrested seven of the eight Lok Sabha seats in the region in 2019 and managed to win 18 of the state’s 42 seats. In terms of the 56 assembly segments in the eight seats in north Bengal, the BJP is ahead of the TMC in 35. The West Bengal assembly has 294 seats.
Attacking the BJP and trying to brand it as an outsider, Banerjee compared the central BJP leaders as dacoits from Chambal. “Sometimes, they are trying to scare the TMC and sometimes, the state police. They are all goons from outside. They are dacoits from Chambal who have come to West Bengal,” she added.
While ruing that the TMC couldn’t win a single seat from north Bengal and urging people to vote for it in the crucial assembly elections in 2021, Banerjee said it is good that the BJP won some seats in the Lok Sabha polls as it came handy to unmask them.
