West Bengal Congress President Somen Mitra on Thursday said that his party will not seek support from the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress to form the next government if the Lok Sabha elections lead to a hung Parliament. He added that the Congress will also not support Banerjee’s bid to become the prime minister, PTI reported.
“We won’t need her support,” Mitra told reporters in Kolkata. “We will form the government on our own with United Progressive Alliance allies. UPA will get a comfortable majority.”
Mitra claimed the West Bengal chief minister is the “biggest and most trusted ally” of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. “It is an open secret in Bengal that TMC is having an understanding with BJP-RSS,” he claimed. “She doesn’t have credibility in the fight against BJP and RSS, rather she has kept her options to help BJP in a post-poll scenario.”
The West Bengal Congress chief said that Banerjee’s allegations that the Congress has joined hands with the BJP in Malda and Murshidabad districts were baseless. He alleged that Banerjee is deliberately making false accusations against the Congress to polarise minority votes in favour of the Trinamool Congress and majority community votes for the BJP.
Mitra claimed that the lack of progress in the Supreme Court-ordered chit fund scam probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation, and Banerjee’s attempt to form a federal front are examples of a nexus between the Trinamool Congress and the BJP. The Congress leader also alleged that there were malpractices in Coochbehar Lok Sabha constituency on April 11, despite the deployment of central forces.
“She is propagating opposition unity without Congress,” Mitra said. “Is it possible in our country where you can just write off a party like Congress in fight against BJP? Actually this is being deliberately done to weaken the opposition unity and divide it and help BJP.”
The Lok Sabha elections are being held in seven phases from April 11 to May 19. Elections to the 42 constituencies in West Bengal will be held in each phase.
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