kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee began her 2-day tour to poll-bound Tripura on Monday and offered her prayers at Tripureswari temple.
While addressing the media soon after landing at Tripura airport, she said that if Bengal is her first home, then Tripura is her second home.
She said that people in Bengal and Tripura share similar cultures and food habits and people in both states speak the common language — Bengali.
Trinamool Congress chief is set to attend a roadshow in Agartala and address a rally at Rabindra Bhavan. She is being accompanied by her party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and the party’s state in-charge Rajib Banerjee among others.
“Tripura is not new to me. I had worked here extensively when Congress was in power. I know many places here. Many of the then leaders I had worked with are no longer around. Sometimes I remember them. There has been a long-standing relationship between Tripura and Bengal. We have so much in common. Tripura has a special place in my heart and it is like a second home to me. I am not holding any political programme today,” Banerjee told reports at Tripura airport.
She also recalled how Trinamool Congress party MPs were attacked by the BJP-backed goons earlier.
“I have come here to tell people how BJP unleashed terror on our party MPs and how they attacked the cars of our party leaders. Many of our leaders, including MP Susmita Dev, MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, MP Abhishek Banerjee, were attacked. Their cars were vandalised by the BJP,” she said.
Banerjee also stated that Trinamool raised a protest against the incident when the BJP unleashed torture on the people of Tripura.
Banerjee’s visit to Tripura coincided with Union Home minister Amit Shah attending the ‘Vijay Sankalp’ rally at Santirbazar rally ground ahead.
Political observers apprehend that Trinamool Congress is going to be a formidable opponent in Tripura.