Mamata main opposition face: TMC

Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has evolved as a vital and indispensable part of the anti-BJP space and people have already acknowledged her as the main opposition face, said TMC in an editorial on Monday.

Attacking Congress' Rahul Gandhi for stating that his party is the only one which can lead the battle to defeat the divisive politics of RSS-BJP while asserting that regional parties cannot perform this onerous political task, the TMC said in an editorial in its mouthpiece 'Jago Bangla' that Mamata Banerjee is the only face that can fight the saffron brigade in today's India.

Rahul told delegates in his valedictory speech on Sunday at the 'Chintan Shivir' being held in Udaipur that "the regional parties cannot fight this battle because this is an ideological fight. BJP talks about Congress, its leaders, its workers, but not about any regional party. That is because they know that regional parties have a place, but they cannot defeat BJP because they don't have an ideology. We have a centralised approach."

In TMC's editorial titled "Chintaner Chinta", it has commented that such a statement by the Congress leader has not only lowered the prestige of the regional parties but also caused sheer embarrassment to Congress.

Some months ago, poll strategist Prashant Kishor had suggested that Congress should fight along with the regional parties against the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Gandhi had rejected Kishor's proposal though he accepted that Congress had lost contacts with the masses.

The editorial commented: "At a time when Congress is devastated, it is trying to peep into the rooms of other parties and trying to find out their faults. It has only one purpose — to cover up its own flaws and highlight the faults of others. Rahul Gandhi has done it in a refined manner."

TMC Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev said "bereft of a narrative, face and organisation", it was the Congress that was handing over seats to the BJP on a platter, in places where the two parties are in a direct fight.

"We are not contesting every seat, but the BJP is strong wherever the Congress is the primary opposition. The BJP has not been able to defeat M K Stalin (Tamil Nadu), Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal), or for that matter Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy (Andhra Pradesh), to name a few. In that sense, the BJP is happy to have the Congress as a national party because it suits them. The reality is, the Congress is unable to defeat the BJP," Dev, who quit the Congress in August last year, said.