West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday alleged that the controversial film was made to humiliate a section of the society. (File Image: PTI)
This is the first time that Banerjee clarified TMC’s stand on a possible strategy of opposition unity ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
In the first major announcement about TMC’s strategy and ‘opposition unity’ for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said her party will support the Congress in areas where it has a strong presence.
He said, ‘Wherever the Congress is strong, let them fight. We will support them, there is nothing wrong in that. But they will have to support other political parties as well,” the TMC supremo told reporters at the state secretariat.
Banerjee insisted that the Congress should also extend its support to other political parties in order to garner support.
The Chief Minister strongly expressed his expectation that the seat-sharing formula should give priority to regional players in areas where they hold significant influence. “Priority should be given to strong regional parties,” he said.
Refraining from mentioning the old party with which TMC has been at loggerheads in the past, Banerjee lauded the people of Karnataka after the BJP’s defeat in the recently held state assembly polls.
In his tweet, he lauded the people of Karnataka for their resolute mandate in favor of change. Banerjee underlined the rejection of authoritarian and majoritarian politics, stressing that the innate will of the people cannot be suppressed by any centralized authority.
Where Mamta expressed her happiness of defeating BJP through her tweet, she refrained from congratulating the Congress party openly.
According to a News18 report, the Trinamool Congress sees the people’s mandate as a rejection of the BJP rather than a victory for the Congress. In Mamata’s interaction with the media as well, she insisted that the BJP would not cross 100 seats in the Lok Sabha, echoing her “don’t vote for BJP” sentiment.
Congress-TMC relations have been strained over the past year and a half, with the Mamata Banerjee-led party accusing the Congress of not effectively countering the BJP, and instead contributing to the saffron party’s strong position.
(With inputs from PTI)