TMC goes on offensive against BJP

To counter Left's "tacit BJP-TMC alliance" claim, TMC distances itself from BJP

A  day after Narendra Modi's rally in the city, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) is at pains to distance itself from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

With Left parties making a “tacit BJP-TMC alliance” an issue to win back its lost minority votes in the general elections, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s party is going on the offensive against the saffron party. In a tweet, TMC said: “A day after Modi's rally, 1,500 members of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha in Howrah joined @TrinamoolYUVA (the official twitter handle of TMC).”

The Trinamool Yuva, headed by Mamata’s nephew and possible political heir, Abhishek Banerjee, is the youth wing of TMC.

“All of these members are below the age of 30,” TMC spokesperson Derek O’ Brien told Business Standard, corroborating the party’s claim, which was denied by the state BJP.

“This is a complete lie. This shows how nervous the party is with the rise of BJP in the wake of Modi’s rally,” state BJP president Rahul Sinha said.

Authenticity of the claim apart, TMC is bent on ensuring no “wrong” message is sent to minorities following Modi’s soft line towards TMC. Muslims constitute 26 per cent of West Bengal’s population, and their support has been instrumental in TMC’s electoral success in recent years.

Recently, Mukul Roy, perceived to be the No 2 in TMC and closest aide of the West Bengal chief minister, in a television interview, almost dismissed the possibility of a post-poll alliance with the BJP.

“We believe regional parties will come together and a federal front will be formed. You have to wait to know what happens after poll,” Roy had told a local channel on the question of joining NDA, if they are in a striking distance to form a government. Mamata Banerjee's attack too has been on Modi rather than BJP, as she said TMC won't support the “face of riot”.

“Let Modi say whatever he thinks. BJP doesn’t exist in Bengal. And let me clarify on behalf of my party -- there is no possibility of any business with the BJP and Modi whether it is pre-poll or post-poll,” said one of party's most prominent minority leaders of TMC, Firhad Hakim.

Incidentally, this is the first time a TMC leader rubbished the possibility of a post-poll alliance with the BJP.

The Left, however, still sees this as an opportunity to “expose” TMC. “We have been saying this for long. TMC is working on Nitish Kimar model of consolidating their minorities votes first. Once that is done, they will join BJP after poll. We will expose this in poll campaign,” said CPI(M) central committee member Md Selim.