Left Trying To Control INDIA Bloc’s Agenda, Won’t Accept It”: Mamata Banerjee

Kolkata: 

Amid the internal discord within the INDIA bloc in the state over seat-sharing, Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee asserted on Monday that the Left is striving to control the opposition bloc’s agenda, underscoring that no one confronts the BJP as directly as she does.

Addressing an all-faith rally in the city, the TMC leader expressed her unwillingness to accept the Left Front led by CPI(M) controlling the agenda of the INDIA bloc meeting.

“I suggested the name INDIA during the opposition bloc meeting. But whenever I attend the meeting, I find the Left trying to control it. This is not acceptable. I cannot agree with those with whom I had fought for 34 years,” she said.

Ms Banerjee remarked, “Despite such insults, I have adjusted and attended the INDIA bloc meetings.”

In an apparent reference to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi being stopped in Assam from visiting the birthplace of Vaishnav saint Srimant Sankardeva, Ms Banerjee remarked, “Just going to the temple isn’t enough.”

She highlighted her proactive stance against the BJP, stating, “How many politicians today took on the BJP head-on? Somebody went to one temple and thought it was sufficient, but it was not. I am the only one who visited the temple, gurudwara, church, and mosque. I have been fighting for a long time. When the Babri Masjid issue (demolition) happened, and violence was taking place, I was on the streets.”