West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday accused the Congress of joining hands with the CPI(M) to strengthen the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Addressing a public distribution program here, Banerjee said the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has decided to contest the upcoming elections in West Bengal alone after the Congress rejected its proposal to contest on two seats in the state.
She alleged that the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) had “tortured” people during its 34-year rule in the state and she would “never be able to forgive” the Left for this.
Banerjee said, “Congress does not have a single MLA in the state assembly… I offered them two Lok Sabha seats but they wanted more.
So, I told him that I will not share a single seat with him.”
She said, “I will never forgive CPI(M). I will also not forgive those who support CPI(M)… because by doing so they are actually supporting BJP.
This has been seen in the last Panchayat elections.” Banerjee said that she has no objection if someone from the family of late veteran Congress leader Ghani Khan Chaudhary contests elections from Malda.
He said, “But TMC will also contest the elections. They (Congress) will fight together with CPI(M) to strengthen BJP… Only TMC is capable of fighting BJP politically in the state.”
Banerjee said that if the BJP-led central government does not clear the state dues by February 1, she will stage a protest in Kolkata from February 2.
He urged party workers and people affected by non-payment of money to join the protest. The protest will be organized near the BR Ambedkar statue in the Red Road area of Kolkata.
He said, “I have given an ultimatum till February 1 to clear all the dues. If this does not happen then I will sit on strike from February 2.
If the dues are not paid then I know how it can be achieved through agitation.” “I urge all party leaders and workers to join the protest… I want everyone’s support,” she said.
The Chief Minister claimed that the state owed Rs 7,000 crore towards several schemes run by the central government, including the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) and the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awas Yojana (PMGAY).