Join hands with TMC to defeat BJP: Mamata to Cong, CPI(M)

Kolkata: Coming down heavily on the BJP for running a 'parallel government' for the last five years, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday urged the CPI(M) and the Congress to join hands with Trinamool Congress to fight the BJP.

"The situation in Bhatpara has made the people of the state realize what happens if you vote for BJP. The way they are functioning in the country, I apprehend they will change the Constitution one day. I feel all of us (TMC, Congress and CPIM) should come together in the fight against the saffron party. It doesn't mean we have to join hands politically, but on common issues at the national level, we can come together," she said while speaking in the state Assembly.

Banerjee also reiterated that 23 political parties in the country are trying to put up a united fight against the BJP and they have to continue this for the greater interest of the country. She appealed to the Congress and the CPI(M) to be vocal against alleged EVM manipulation on the part of BJP to swing votes in their favour. "It is your prerogative with whom you should forge an alliance. But I feel, we need to be united to fight the fascist BJP. We stand by the Congress in various issues in Parliament and it should be the same in our state too," she asserted.

BJP had managed to win 18 out of 42 seats in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls against TMC's 22 seats. Congress won two seats while the Left failed to open its account. It may be mentioned that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had said time and again that CPI(M) and the Congress have connived against the TMC right from the Panchayats to the Lok Sabha polls. Continued on P5