Mamata not considering a political foray in Maha: Sena
MUMBAI: Stirring the political pot, Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha (RS) MP Sanjay Raut has said that All India Trinamool Congress (AITMC) president and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee seems to be looking at creating an anti-bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) front while excluding the Congress from it. Raut added however that the AITMC is not considering a political foray into Maharashtra as the Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are standing up to the might of the BJP effectively.
In his weekly column on Sunday in the Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana, of which he is the executive editor, Raut said that Banerjee, who visited Mumbai last week and met Sena leader and tourism minister Aaditya Thackeray and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, wants to expand beyond her state. The AITMC has already created a footprint in Goa, Meghalaya and Tripura, he said. “It seems that she is thinking of doing something new minus the Congress,” wrote Raut, quickly adding that the AITMC chief had said that they are not eager to make a foray into Maharashtra due to the strong presence of the Shiv Sena and NCP.
Taking a potshot at the BJP for claiming that Banerjee came here to poach local industries, Raut said, “They (BJP) criticised Banerjee but did not utter a word against the Gujarat chief minister who met industrialists from Maharashtra for the Vibrant Gujarat summit. This is hypocrisy.”
The Congress is a constituent of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra, which is led by Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray. During her visit to Mumbai, Banerjee, while speaking to the press, questioned the existence of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) which is anchored by the Congress.
In a deliberate reference to Banerjee’s slogan during her visit, “Jai Bangla, Jai Maharashtra” Raut said, “This cry is a symbol of how politics will shape up in the future.” He likened Banerjee’s visit to that of a sister returning to her parents’ home.
Raut said that like the BJP’S resounding defeat in West Bengal at the hands of Banerjee, a similar set of events had played out in Maharashtra (through the formation of the MVA) “to stand up to the overarching dominance of Delhi”. The people of Maharashtra and Bengal had defeated the “power, money and extreme terrorism of the central investigating agencies,” he said.