Central praise for Mamata before BJP-Trinamool poll adjustment: CPI-M

The CPI-M on Sunday lashed out at central ministers, including Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, for criticising the erstwhile Left Front government and singing paens to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at the Bengal Global Business Summit.

An editorial in the Communist Party of India-Marxist's Bengali mouthpiece Ganashakti claimed that the bonhomie was a precursor to an understanding between Banerjee's ruling Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the assembly polls.

"A significant aspect is that during the past one and half years, central ministers and BJP leaders have flayed the Trinamool Congress government side by side praising it. But this is the first time that all such criticism has vanished. One saw only praise and praise.

"A clear-cut message has gone out from the official podium of the investment summit about a Trinamool-BJP understanding in the coming assembly elections," the editorial said.

The two-day BGBS ended on Saturday. Apart from Jaitley, union ministers Nitin Gadkari, Suresh Prabhu and Piyush Goyal attended the event.

Jaitley attacked the earlier Left Front regime that ruled the state for 34 years till 2011, saying its policies were responsible for investment drying up in Bengal.

Goyal praised Banerjee and the Trinamool government, and all the ministers promised to stand by its development initiatives.

Surmising that the BJP wanted the Trinamool to emerge victorious in the assembly polls, the CPI-M felt the Centre's ruling party was looking to win some seats in the state by tying up with Banerjee's outfit.

"But under no circumstances does the BJP want the Leftists to return to power. That's the reason the BJP ministers have promised to stand by the Trinamool with all their might," the editorial said.

Refering to the presence of a large number of leading industrialists at the summit, the mouthpiece saw the BJP's hand in their attendance.

"There is no reason to believe that the industrialists have suddenly become enamoured of Mamata Banerjee. The fact is union ministers and BJP leaders had played an active role in ensuring the business magnates' presence in the summit."

It said the BJP needed the Trinamool to serve its own interest.

"The BJP knows it has no chance to come to power in West Bengal. On the contrary, people's faith in the Leftists is on the rise. So if the Leftists win, then their strength in the Rajya Sabha will go up and it will be detrimental to the interests of the BJP-led government at the centre as it cannot pass any anti-people bill in the Rajya Sabha."

On the other hand, if the Trinamool has a sizeable number of Rajya Sabha members, then the BJP government will get their support in passing "harmful" bills, it said.