Opposition should come together and fight BJP's misrule, says CM

The Opposition parties should come together and put up a united fight against BJP's misrule, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Monday after casting her vote for the Presidential election in the afternoon.

"I congratulate 18 Opposition parties who have come together but three or four parties are still backing BJP and I request them to come out of BJP's clutches and work together to put an end to its misrule," she said.

Banerjee said that Trinamool Congress had taken part in the Presidential election as a mark of protest. "We know Meira Kumar does not have the magic figure but we are all voting for her as a mark of protest. I believe that this is an opportunity to bring all the Opposition parties together," she said adding: "We will respect the new President as he is our Constitutional head but we have raised our voice against BJP's autocratic rule."

Banerjee alleged that BJP is letting loose its agencies like CBI, ED and Income Tax on the parties that have raised their voices against it. "We are not going to succumb to their pressure. We know how to retaliate and fight back. The environment in Bengal has taught us not to accept something that is grossly illegal," she maintained.

Banerjee came to the Assembly House and cast her vote around 1.30 pm. She stood in the queue along with her party's MLAs and MPs. Sudip Bandopadhyay, Kalyan Banerjee, Moon Moon Sen, Satabdi Roy, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Sadhya Roy, Derek O' Brien, Mukul Roy, Dinesh Tribedi, Saugata Roy, and other MPs came to the Assembly to cast their votes. Banerjee said three of party's MPs, Sugata Bose and Dev will cast their votes in Delhi. K D Singh also cast his vote in Delhi. MP of Krishnanagar Tapas Paul and Hamidul Islam, party's MLAs from Chopra could not cast their votes because of ill health.

Banerjee said BJP has ruined the country financially and demolished the federal structure. "By intervening in the affairs of the states, BJP has destroyed the federal structure of the country. This is most alarming."

She reiterated that notebandi and GST have affected the financial progress of the country badly. "The country's progress has been badly hit by notebandi and GST. You have read in the newspapers that crores of rupees have been recovered from the house of senior Central government employees and this is the result of notebandi. The textile traders and sweet sellers are hit by GST and Centre has done it deliberately. Wait for some days and you will see that notebandi and GST will come out to be the biggest scams."

Somnath Chatterjee, former Lok Sabha Speaker said: "It is unfortunate that BJP's candidate will win the Presidential election because of arithmetic" and congratulated the Opposition for coming together in selecting their candidate."