Mamata had supported creation of small states: Ahluwalia

Mamata allegedly backed the creation of smaller states when she was a minister in the NDA government

The BJP today sought to debunk Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee's strident stand against the creation of Gorkhaland saying she had supported creation of smaller states as a minister in the NDA government.

"Mamata Banerjee does not support creation of a separate state in Darjeeling now, but when she was a minister in the NDA government, she had backed creation of smaller states," BJP National Vice-President Surinder Singh Ahluwalia claimed at an election meeting here.

Ahluwalia, the BJP Lok Sabha candidate for the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat supported by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha said small states like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand were formed during NDA rule while the party had also backed formation of Telangana recently.

Though the GJM, he said, had joined the January 30 rally of the TMC in Kolkata, it had done so with the demand for Gorkhaland, Ahluwalia claimed.

The TMC had turned against the GJM only because it had started supporting BJP Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi for good governance, he said.

Countering Banerjee's allegation that BJP was using money power to divide the state, Ahluwalia in turn questioned the source of Trinamool Congress's funds.

"One should know from where the TMC is getting so much money ... Wearing hawai chappal does not fetch money," he said referring to Banerjee's choice of footwear.

Claiming that he had once worked with Banerjee during student politics days in the Chhatra Parishad, Ahluwalia said, "We know each other well."

On TMC's Darjeeling candidate, footballer turned politician Baichung Bhutia, Ahluwalia retorted that there was no football ground in Parliament.

Jaswant Singh of the BJP had won the Darjeeling seat in the last Lok Sabha election with the GJM backing his candidature.