Congress On Offence Against Mamata After ‘No UPA’ Barb, Says ‘No Alliance Against BJP’ Can Be Formed Without Them
The decision to lambast the TMC supremo was taken at a meeting held on Wednesday night.
New Delhi: Expressing its ire against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s “there is no UPA now” remark, the Congress has decided to launch an all-out attack on the Trinamool Congress (TMC) with its top leaders taking the charge.
The decision to lambast the TMC supremo was taken at a meeting held on Wednesday night.
“There were discussions among the top leaders of Congress late night on Wednesday in which it has been decided that the party will now make big attacks against Mamata,” ANI quoted sources in the Congress party as saying.
Sources said the responsibility of making political attacks on the TMC chief has been tasked to top Congress leaders like Mallikarjun Kharge, Digvijaya Singh and Randeep Surjewala.
They added that special responsibility was given to Digvijaya Singh because he had been openly advocating coordination with leaders who left the Congress-led alliance, including Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and YSR Congress supremo Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar and Telangana Chief Minister and TRS supremo K. Chandrashekar Rao, from the high command.
Meanwhile, Digvijaya Singh downplayed the TMC chief’s remark categorically stating that no political alliance against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) can be formed without the Congress.
“Our fight is against the ruling party (BJP). Those who want to join us, should come with us and those who don't want to join us are free to do so...Can any political alliance formed against the BJP be without participation of the Congress?” he asked.
Kharge, the Congress’ Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, on his part said the Opposition should not get divided and fight among themselves.
“We have tried to include them (TMC) in various socio-political issues where the Congress made its name. Opposition should not get divided and fight amongst themselves, we’ve to fight against the BJP together,” he said.
Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, earlier dubbed the meeting between Banerjee and Pawar as a “pre-meditated conspiracy” to weaken the grand old party.
Chowdhury, who earlier took the lead from the Congress in vehemently lambasting Banerjee as he has an old feud with her in West Bengal, alleged the TMC supremo had become the “BJP’s oxygen supplier”.
The Congress and Left parties fought together in the West Bengal Assembly elections against the TMC and the BJP.
The Congress’ strategy so far is that there should be scope to improve relations in the name of Opposition unity. A section in the grand old party has also been in favour of rapprochement with the TMC chief.
The Congress leaders’ remark against the TMC supremo comes a day after she met Pawar at his Silver Oak residence in South Mumbai.
Banerjee after the meeting declared “there is no UPA now” and said it will be “very easy to defeat the BJP” if “all regional parties are together”.
The TMC chief, who is continuously pitching for a strong alternative at the national level but indirectly taking on the grand old party after her party’s landslide victory in the West Bengal Assembly polls held earlier this year, was part of the Congress-led UPA that remained in power at the Centre for 10 years from 2004 to 2014 when the BJP came to power.
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