Mamata guarded on KCR proposal to keep Cong out
KOLKATA: Mr Rao has expressed his opinion. Politics is a continuous process. Dialogues have just begun. Let Federal Front be strong. There will be discussions with all likeminded parties MAMATA BANERJEE,
West Bengal chief minister
The meeting between West Bengal chief minister, Mamata Banerjee and her Telangana counterpart Kalvakuntla Chandrashekhar Rao took place on Monday with palpable differences on the role of the Congress in the proposed joint forum, or a federal front, to take on the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
After the two-hour meeting at the state secretariat in Howrah, Rao said the aim is to create a nonBJP, non-Congress forum since transfer of power from BJP to Congress won’t achieve the goal of national development.
“The Federal Front is not a routine model. If power shifts from the BJP to the Congress, will there be any miracle? No. But the country needs a kind of miracle now and, hence, we want the front to be a non-BJP and nonCongress one that can give an alternative model of development to the country,” Rao said.
Despite the Telangana CM emphasising his rejection of the BJP-Congress binary, Banerjee chose her words carefully and did not mention the Congress.
“Mr Rao has expressed his opinion. Politics is a continuous process. Dialogues have just started. Let the Federal Front be strong. There will be discussions with all like-minded parties,” she said, adding, “There is no hurry.”
However, both leaders termed Monday’s meeting as “fruitful”.
Banerjee shares a cordial relation with former Congress president Sonia Gandhi. In the Rajya Sabha elections, she has extended support to Congress candidate in Bengal, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, thus guaranteeing him a seat in the Upper House of Parliament.
In Bengal, BJP leaders seemed to be cheering over the differences between the two leaders. “The people of India have seen enough of such political gimmick and are tired of it. Such attempts are a futile exercise to satisfy their ego and greed for power. The more they do such things, the more the public would support Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” said Rahul Sinha, BJP’s national secretary.
Congress Rajya Sabha MP Pradip Bhattacharya appreciated Banerjee’s gesture and said that she has rightly understood that without Congress, there cannot be an anti-BJP alternative. “Former CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat tried a nonBJP and non-Congress front. He failed miserably. It is good that Mamata Banerjee is not repeating the mistake,” said Bhattacharya, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha with TMC’s support.
When asked whether there will be a common minimum programme of the proposed front, Banerjee said the time has not yet come to decide on these matters. “Politics is a continuous process. Let more meetings take place and let there be discussions among all like-minded political parties. CMP can be discussed later,” Banerjee said.
The Telangana CM praised Banerjee as an administrator. “I have come to Kolkata after almost 13 years. I am amazed by the kind of progress the city has made under Didi’s leadership.”