The Trinamool Congress (TMC) is unlikely to attend the opposition parties’ meeting called by the Congress on November 29, as the party is learnt to be disinterested in coordinating with the Congress. The Congress party has called the meeting to plan a joint strategy against the BJP led ruling NDA during the Winter Session of the parliament, especially on the issue of farmers’ protest.
But there is nothing unusual in such a refusal since barely a few days back Mamata Banerjee had given a blunt reply when asked why she did not meet Congress national president Sonia Gandhi.
TMC has announced to hold its national coordination committee meeting on November 29 at the residence of Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata. TMC will coordinate with other opposition parties against the government during the winter session but not under the leadership and instruction of the Congress.
The TMC is likely to raise the issue of repealing farm laws, Maximum Support Price for agricultural products, the extension of tenures of ED and CBI directors, BSF’s increased jurisdiction, the alleged weakening of the federal structure, fuel prices and others.
The Bengal-based party headed by Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been trying to replace the Congress to lead the opposition against the BJP.
The PTI has quoted TMC leaders saying that Mamata Banerjee will maintain distance with the Congress party. TMC has asked the Congress leadership to resolve issues within their party and then think of coordinating with other opposition parties.
“We are disinterested in coordinating with the Congress during the winter session. Congress leaders should first coordinate among themselves. They should set their own house in order and then think about coordinating with other camps,” a TMC leader was quoted saying.
However, the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said that the Congress will try to bring all opposition parties together in Parliament.
The Bengal victory has fueled the prime ministerial ambition of Mamata Banerjee and she has been trying to expand the footprints of her party beyond Bengal. She has poached on several Congress leaders.
In Meghalaya, former Congress chief minister Mukul Sangma and 11 other Congress MLAs joined the TMC. In Assam, Sushmita Dev deserted the Congress to join TMC. In Goa, Mamata Banerjee managed former Goa Chief Minister and Congress leader Luizinho Faleiro to join her party. President of Haryana Congress committee Ashok Tanwar recently joined the TMC along with Kirti Azad. All these have inflicted a heavy loss to the Congress party.
Snub to Sonia Gandhi and Congress
This is a clear indication that Mamata Banerjee is not going to accept the Congress and Sonia Gandhi as the face of opposition. Very recently TMC mouthpiece ‘Jago Bangla’ had said that not Sonia Gandhi but Mamata Banerjee is the face of the opposition parties.
When the Congress faced massive desertion in Meghalaya, the Jago Bangla called the Congress ‘incompetent and ‘incapable’ of keeping its flock together. TMC has kept attacking the Congress and termed it a party indulged in armchair politics having no interest to hit the street against the BJP. It further said that the Congress party has limited itself to Twitter space and was not bothered about building strong opposition alliances.
On November 25, Mamata Banerjee visited Delhi to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But she did not meet Sonia Gandhi and when asked she didn’t meet the Congress president, she said that meeting Sonia Gandhi was not constitutionally mandated. “Why should we meet Sonia every time? It is not constitutionally mandated,” she had said.
