'Mamata main pillar of opposition, will win all 42 Lok Sabha seats in WB', says Andhra CM Naidu

Describing Mamata as the architect of the federal front, Naidu said that her party was going to taste a sweeping victory in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

Kolkata: TDP chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister meets West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to express his solidarity in her 'dharna' (sit-in protest) over the CBI's attempt to interrogate Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar, in Kolkata, Tuesday, Feb 5, 2019. The apex court Tuesday directed Commissioner Kumar to appear before the CBI for questioning at a neutral place in Shillong. (PTI Photo/Swapan Mahapatra) (PTI2_5_2019_000166B)

New Delhi: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, who joined Bengal CM  Mamata Banerjee’s ‘Save the Constitution’ dharna in Kolkata on Tuesday, hailed the TMC supremo’s efforts and called her the main pillar of the federal front. Standing alongside Mamata, at the venue of the sit-in, in front of Metro Cinema in the heart of Kolkata,  Naidu said that Mamata’s party TMC will win all the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal in the upcoming parliamentary polls. Describing her as the architect of the federal front, Naidu said that she is the main pillar of opposition and claimed that her party was going to taste a sweeping victory in the upcoming elections. "She will win all the 42 seats in West Bengal and will be in a decision making position at the national level," he said. Naidu said he had come on behalf of the 23 political parties who had participated in the January 19 opposition rally in the city. He welcomed the Supreme Court order which stated that the CBI would not be able to arrest  Kumar, and supported Banerjee's move to stage a sit-in demonstration in protest. Banerjee began the sit-in after a CBI team attempted to enter  Kolkata top cop Rajeev Kumar's residence to question him in connection with chit fund scams. She alleged that the CBI action was tantamount to stifling the spirit of "Constitution and federalism" in the country. Naidu was alongside Mamata while she called off her dharna and her three-day fast. Banerjee alleged that the BJP is "blackmailing" people by using central agencies like the CBI against them and then getting them into the party fold. Stating that she has great respect for the central probe agency, she urged it to speed up its investigation into the theft of the Nobel medal of Rabindranath Tagore with the same promptness with which, she alleged, it executes the orders of PM Modi and BJP Chief Amit Shah.