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‘Won’t accept any criminal…’: Congress, Left parties reject Mamata Banerjee’s call for alliance against BJP
Congress and Left parties turned down Mamata Banerjee's proposal to unite against the BJP, calling her leadership corrupt.
The Congress, the Left front and the CPI-ML (Liberation) on Sunday rejected an offer by Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee to form a united platform against the Bharatiya Janata Party.
“Absolutely not. We will not accept anyone identified as criminal, extortionist, corrupt and communal. We will stand by people and the marginal population,” CPI(M) state secretary Md Salim said in a reply to the proposal Banerjee made on Saturday even though his party is not in power in any state for the first time in 49 years, having lost the Kerala polls.
State Congress spokesperson Soumya Aich Roy said, “We can’t believe our ears. You (Banerjee) invited national parties, indicating the Congress, Left and the ultra-Left to join you. What do you mean by ultra-Left? Do you mean the Maoists, who killed 18 Congress leaders and workers in Chhattisgarh on May 25, 2013?”
On Saturday, when BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari was sworn in as chief minister, Banerjee released a video message. “I urge all opposition parties in Bengal, student organisations and NGOs to unite against the BJP. A united platform can be formed with all political parties opposing the BJP,” the TMC chief said.
Also Read: Suvendu Adhikari sworn in as Bengal’s first BJP CM
“Along with the national parties, I urge the Leftists and the ultra-Leftists to unite in Bengal as well as in Delhi. If any political party wants to speak to me, I am available. It must be remembered that our first enemy is the BJP,” she added.
Reacting to her statement, Adhikari said, “She is irrelevant in politics.”
In the recently concluded assembly polls, the BJP won 207 of Bengal’s 294 seats against the TMC’s 80.
CPI state secretary Swapan Banerjee said, “The question of joining forces with Banerjee doesn’t arise. Democracy was in peril during her regime...”
TMC leaders refused to comment on HT’s queries.
