File Picture : ANI/X
Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee has made a significant overture to the Congress and the Communist Party of India-Marxist, urging them to bury their differences with her party and put up a united front against the Bharatiya Janata Party in West Bengal under the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).
Her appeal at the annual Martyrs’ Day rally of her faction of the TMC marked a notable shift in the party’s tone in a state where it, the Congress and the Left have been bitter rivals despite being constituents of the opposition INDIA bloc at the national level.
While seeking opposition unity, Banerjee firmly shut the door on dissidents within her party, declaring that ‘traitors’ would never be taken back.
“I want everyone to unite under the INDIA bloc in Bengal to fight the BJP. I don’t have any ego. I urge others also to keep aside their differences and fight together,” the former West Bengal chief minister said.
“I appeal to all those fighting the BJP in Bengal to come together,” she said without mentioning any party by name.
Over successive Assembly and parliamentary elections, Congress and the CPI-M have accused the TMC of helping the BJP politically, a charge repeatedly rejected by Banerjee.
Her overtures are seen as an attempt by the TMC chief to reclaim the broader anti-BJP space in Bengal at a time when her own party is grappling with its biggest organisational split since its inception.
“I challenge the traitors to directly join the BJP and fight elections,” she said, accusing the dissidents of functioning as proxies of the saffron party.
“Those thieves have gone to the BJP. I will never take them back. If you want to support the BJP, go to the BJP. The more of you who leave, the happier I will be. My youth workers are there to fill every vacancy,” Banerjee asserted.
Addressing the rally, Banerjee accused Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari of using the state machinery to weaken the TMC.
Without naming her one-time confidant who turned bete noire after switching over to the BJP in 2020, the TMC supremo said he could expose his deeds during his decade-long stay in her party.
“If I open my mouth, I will reveal everything about what you did during your 10 years in the Trinamool. I will expose your mask…If BJP is defeated at the Centre, the government here too will be on shaky ground,” she said.
