Mamata accuses of BJP splitting TMC-Congress alliance votes

Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee today accused the BJP of entering into a pact with CPI-M to divide votes of the Trinamool-Congress alliance.

"The BJP is a friend of CPI-M. It will not be seen anywhere in the state to take up people's causes, but whenever election time comes it suddenly appears and jumps in the fray thus helping the Marxist party to split opposition votes," Banerjee said at an election rally.

BJP has a sizeable presence in certain pockets in north Bengal.

The Trinamool leader asked voters not to give a single vote to BJP which claims itself to be the party for Hindus.

"A single vote for BJP will mean helping the CPI-M," she said, claiming that in the 2009 Lok Sabha election the BJP helped the Left to win the Cooch Behar seat in north Bengal. "We would have won the seat in 2009 Lok Sabha poll, but we could not do so as the BJP helped the CPI(M) to win it," she said.

In the 2009 Lok Sabha poll, the Left Front candidate won the Cooch Behar seat by 33,749 votes. While Left Front candidate polled 5,00677 votes, the Trinamool Congress nominee got 4,66,928 votes and the BJP contestant secured 65,325 votes.

BJP also played a spoilsport to the Congress and Trinamool alliance in Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri seats in 2009 by garnering substantial votes. The seats were won by the Left Front.

Banerjee also came down heavily on Congress rebels, including some sitting legislators, who had filed nominations against Trinamool nominees in some north Bengal districts including North Dinajpur and Malda.

"CPI(M) has fielded some (Congress) rebels in the name of independents against our party nominees and they have also left some seats to BJP. They do not want the change to take place in West Bengal," she said.

She appealed to voters not to give a single vote to them, saying, "If change does not come this time, it will never come."