Opposition parties together at national level, says Mamata Banerjee

“At the State level, all the parties must understand that State parties have their own obligation”

A day after the lone Congress MLA from West Bengal defected to the Trinamool Congress (TMC), Chief Minister and TMC chairperson Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said that all Opposition parties, including the Congress, were together at the national level and the defection of the Congress MLA was a local issue.

 “We are all together at the national level. At the State level, all the parties must understand that State parties have their own obligation,” Ms. Banerjee said when asked about the defection of Congress MLA Bayron Biswas to her party. On Monday. Mr. Biswas who was elected to State Assembly on March 2, 2023 joined the TMC.

 While referring to Mr. Biswas’s defection, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that such poaching was not designed to strengthen Opposition unity and only served the BJP’s objectives. 

“Three months after he was elected as a Congress MLA in a historic victory, Bayron Biswas has been lured away by the TMC in West Bengal. This is a complete betrayal of the mandate of the people of the Sagardighi Assembly constituency. Such poaching which has happened earlier in Goa, Meghalaya, Tripura and other States is not designed to strengthen Opposition unity and only serves the BJP’s objectives,” Mr. Ramesh tweeted.

The TMC chairperson tried to downplay the remarks, thanked Mr. Ramesh and said that the party had put candidates in Assembly elections in only a few States, not all the States where Congress was contesting Assembly polls. “We have only contested Meghalaya and Goa. But when Congress contested Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh we were never disturbed. Instead of disturbing them we supported them,“ she told journalists at the State Secretariat

Ms. Banerjee, however, did not shy away from alleging that all parties in the Opposition in West Bengal were united against her.

“That said, the ‘Ram (BJP) Baam (Left) Shyam (Congress)’ alliance will be there, and they will keep creating hurdles in the smooth functioning of our government. I will ask them to remain united, as I don’t think about them much,” she added.