Party has enough merit to fight BJP alone, says Trinamool Congress

kolkata: In a bid to further strengthen the party’s organisational structure in rural areas ahead of the Panchayat polls, Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee will hold three meetings in a month in the districts while for Lok Sabha polls the party said it alone has enough merit and strength to fight the saffron brigade.

Addressing a press conference, party leaders Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Chandrima Bhattacharya said the party chief has decided to hold meetings in the districts thrice a month to further strengthen the organisations there. TMC also seeks to utilise its Duare Sarkar and Didir Suraksha Kawach campaigns to reach out to more people.

TMC has given MLA Aroop Biswas the charge of Burdwan, Nadia and Darjeeling districts. Firhad Hakim was given charge of Howrah and Hooghly. Moloy Ghatak is in charge of Bankura and Purulia while Tapas Roy was given charge of South Dinajpur. The party made it clear that none of these leaders has been officially appointed as “district observers.” Sudip said although nothing related to Panchayat elections was discussed in Friday’s meeting, strategies for the upcoming Lok Sabha poll were one of the issues where it was decided that TMC alone is enough to fight the BJP, both in the state and at the Centre.

Asked to comment if the party seeks to form a third front sans Congress, he said: “As of now, we have no plans to form any third front without Congress which has been attacking TMC in Bengal despite being in alliance with BJP and CPI(M) elsewhere. Congress must first clear its stance.” He highlighted that TMC is looking ahead to tie up with regional parties. “Almost 15 parties have left NDA. These are the parties we also want to reach out to. Congress can fight alone in states where they have a strong presence and it has to stop acting as the big boss of the Opposition,” he said.

Sudip further said: “BJP is using Rahul Gandhi to silence Opposition parties. Their demand is unless Rahul apologises for his speech abroad, they won’t let others speak. This, we will not tolerate. The Opposition needs to speak in Parliament.” TMC MPs Derek O’Brien and Saugata Roy recently said the ruling party in the Centre is suppressing the voice of the Opposition in Parliament.

They alleged that Prime Minister doesn’t even bother to answer questions in the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha while Opposition MPs are not given a chance to discuss issues under Rule 267 of the Rajya Sabha rulebook which allows for the suspension of day’s business to debate an issue.