“Congress responsible for making Modi-ji strong”: Mamata Banerjee

Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday said that the Congress was responsible for making Prime Minister Narendra Modi (and the BJP) “more powerful”.  She also seemed to rule out the possibility of any alliance with the Congress ahead of elections in Goa in 2022.

Banerjee is currently in Goa on a political visit, along with top leaders of Trinamool. Yesterday, tennis star Leander Paes and actor Nafisa Ali joined her party in Goa, and she held a series of meetings in the coastal state to lay the ground for the coming Assembly polls.

The Trinamool chief also accused the Congress of failing to recognise the need for the Opposition to unite, adding the significance of the regional parties to fight the BJP. “Modiji is going to be more powerful because of the Congress… because the Congress is the BJP’s TRP (television ratings points). If they (the Congress) cannot take a decision… the country will suffer. Why (should) the country suffer… they have had enough opportunity,” Banerjee said in Goa today.

She also highlighted the recent Assembly polls in Bengal, which Trinamool won by a landslide victory. The Congress had formed an alliance with the Left and the Indian Secular Front in the Bengal polls. Neither the Left parties nor the Congress won a single seat. Now, the Congress has turned down an offer to ally with the Goa Forward Party, and the latter has warmed up to the Trinamool Congress. “Instead of contesting against the BJP they (the Congress) contested against me in Bengal… morning shows the day, don’t you think? What do you think… we will give flowers to them?” Banerjee said when asked about a possible alliance in Goa.

“We want to give seats to regional parties… I want to see regional parties become strong. And we want a union of states. The federal structure should be strong… every state must be strong. And if every state is strong, then the Centre will also be strong,” she said.

“Vijay Sardesai (chief of the Goa Forward Party) and I have decided to work together to fight against BJP,” she said. There are 40 seats in the Goa Assembly, which will go to the polls next year.