New Delhi. West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee talks about being with the opposition ‘India’ alliance, but she is seen to be staying away. Mamata, who is fighting the Lok Sabha elections alone in Bengal, has now announced that she will not attend the meeting of the opposition alliance after the elections.
TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee has cited the Lok Sabha elections and cyclone Remal as the reason behind her decision. Talking to reporters on Monday, she said that she will not be able to attend the meeting to be held on June 1 due to the voting in the last phase of the Lok Sabha elections and the relief work being carried out after cyclone Remal.
What was the reason given by Mamata for staying away from the meeting?
In fact, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge has called a meeting of the constituent parties of the ‘India’ alliance on the afternoon of June 1, the day of the last round of voting. However, Mamta Banerjee, citing the Lok Sabha elections and relief and rescue operations after the Remal storm, said that she would not be able to attend it.
Mamata Banerjee said, ‘The Indi people were going to hold a meeting on the 1st, I said that I cannot go on the 1st. We have elections on that day. On one side there is a cyclone, on the other side there are elections… how can I leave them?’
What is going on in Mamta’s mind?
BJP is calling these reasons given by Mamata Banerjee as an excuse to avoid the opposition alliance. BJP leader RP Singh said, ‘Mamata has made an excuse for not coming to the meeting.’ At the same time, many experts believe that Mamata Banerjee does not want to openly join the opposition camp before the results of the Lok Sabha elections. She will think of joining the All India Alliance only after weighing the number of seats she wins and her needs.
TMC rejects speculation?
However, sources associated with TMC have denied these claims. They said that in the last phase of the Lok Sabha elections, voting will take place on nine seats in West Bengal. This includes two seats of Kolkata – Kolkata South and Kolkata North, which are very important for the party. Apart from this, Yadavpur, Dumdum, Barasat, Basirhat, Jayanagar, Mathurapur and Diamond Harbor are included. According to news agency PTI, a source associated with TMC said that Mamata Banerjee, Abhishek Banerjee and other top leaders will cast their votes on the same day and hence will not be able to attend the meeting. He also said that the party has also informed the organizers about its compulsion to attend this meeting.
The TMC source also pointed out that TMC has attended all the meetings of the opposition alliance so far. He said that the first meeting of the ‘India’ alliance was held in Patna on June 23 last year, followed by a meeting in Bengaluru on July 17-18, 2023 and then in Mumbai between August 31 and September 1. The fourth meeting of the opposition alliance was held in Delhi on December 19. After this, opposition leaders participated in the ‘Loktantra Bachao’ rally held in Delhi on March 31 in protest against the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal and Hemant Soren. TMC has been a part of all these meetings and public meetings and will continue to do so in the future.
Tags: Lok Sabha Election 2024, Lok Sabha Elections, Mallikarjun Kharge, Mamata Banerjee
FIRST PUBLISHED : May 28, 2024, 07:46 IST