Mamata called for regional parties' unison out of fear: BJP

A day after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was not a threat as the regional parties were enough to tackle it, the saffron party said the former was making such assertions out of fear and insecurity.

"Mamata Banerjee is trying to create an atmosphere of fear among Hindus and Muslims in West Bengal. We are against this. She called for unity of all regional party out of fear and insecurity. The public has seen Mamta Banerjee's real face. She is trying to create communal violence. We will raise a voice against her ," BJP leader Rahul Sinha told ANI.

Asserting that Mamata was free to keep her viewpoint, BJP leader Shaina NC said the government was never against regional parties.

"Mamata Banerjee is entitled to her viewpoint because she is a regional party and as far as our government is concerned, we have never been against regional parties. We have always said that to have a strong and vibrant democracy we must have good opposition. The unfortunate part in the current scenario, there is no opposition in national parties. So, in that sense we have to accept the reality that the people of this country have accepted Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the unconditional leader," Shaina told ANI.

Mamata yesterday asserted that the BJP was not a threat as even the regional parties were enough to tackle it.

Mamata's assertion came post her meeting with Odisha Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) supremo Naveen Patnaik.

Accusing the BJP of playing politics of division, Mamata said the saffron party also resorted to buying the minister and MLAs of other parties.

"They divide caste, parties. They divide Hindu-Muslims. They also purchase ministers, MLAs. We don't do that. We believe in unity," she told the media here.

Mamata also stated that the secular parties were always together.

Responding to a poser on having discussions on forming an alliance to stand against the BJP, Patnaik said they did not have any talks regarding the same.

"We had no such discussions today," Patnaik said.