Mamata's letter to non-BJP leaders symbolises her 'despair': Javadekar

Javadekar refused to answer another question on West Bengal polls, saying the press meet was for the Dadasaheb Phalke award

Senior BJP leader Prakash Javadekar on Thursday said TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee's letter to non-BJP leaders symbolises her "despair" as she knows that not only is she losing from the Nandigram seat but her party is also going to be dislodged from power in West Bengal.

In a letter to the non-BJP leaders including Congress chief Sonia Gandhi released by the Trinamool Congress(TMC) on Wednesday, Banerjee said the time has come for a "united and effective" struggle against the BJP's alleged attacks on democracy and the Constitution, and that opposition leaders should try present a "credible alternative" to the people of the country.

Asked about the letter at a press conference where he announced the Dadasaheb Phalke award for Rajinikanth, Javadekar said, "Mamata Banerjee's letter sybolises her despair. She has understood that she is losing, not just herself in Nandigram, but the TMC is also going to be dislodged from power, and because of that she is even urging the Congress, which is fighting against her, to unite with her."

This letter is about her survival, the Information and Broadcasting Minister added.

He refused to answer another question on West Bengal polls, saying the press meet was for the Dadasaheb Phalke award.

The letter by Banerjee came on the eve of the second phase of the Assembly polls in West Bengal in which she is locked in a fierce fight in Nandigram constituency against her protege turned adversary Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP.

Besides Sonia Gandhi, the letter has been sent to chief ministers Uddhav Thackeray(Maharashtra-Shiv Sena), Hemant Soren(Jharkhand-JMM), Arvind Kejriwal(Delh-AAP), Naveen Patnaik(Odisha-BJD) and Jagan Reddy(Andhra Pradesh--YSR Congress), NCP's Sharad Pawar, DMK's MK Stalin, Samajwadi Party's Akhilesh Yadav, RJD's Tejashwi Yadav, NC's Farooq Abdullah, PDP's Mehbooba Mufti and CPI(ML)'s Dipankar Bhattacharya.