Trinamool and CPI(M) are clandestine partners: BJP

After the back and forth between Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee and the United Alliance about clandestine partnerships and bribery, BJP has also jumped on the bandwagon alleging that the CPI(M) and Trinamool are clandestine partners in crime, writes, ETV Bharat's Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri.

Kolkata: Since the beginning, the United Alliance - which is the Congress, Left Front and Abbas Siddique-floated All India Secular Front (AISF) - had been alleging that Trinamool Congress and BJP are clandestine partners. Later, the Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee alleged the United Alliance accepted bribes from the BJP to divide the minority votes in the state and benefit BJP. Now its the BJP's turn and it says the CPI(M) and Trinamool are clandestine partners.

Taking this angle of campaigning a step forward, the top BJP leaders have appealed to the grassroots level Left Front workers allegedly being tortured by Trinamool Congress goons on a daily basis to sever ties with “ungrateful Left Front leaders,” and get united under the saffron camp.

“What a shame. The grassroots level workers of CPI(M) are being beaten up by Trinamool Congress goons daily, their houses are burnt down and many of them are unable to enter their locality for months. And the CPI(M) top leaders are coming to a clandestine understanding with Trinamool for some seats. How long the grassroots level CPI(M) workers who are facing humiliations in the hands of Trinamool Congress every day will tolerate this,” said BJP’s general secretary in West Bengal, Sayantan Basu.

BJP Lok Sabha member from Raigunj and Union minister, Debashree Chowdhury said, “CPI(M) and Trinamool have framed a clandestine seat-sharing strategy and are trying to fool the people of West Bengal. But this clandestine strategy became clear after the candidates for both these parties were announced. CPI(M) fooled the people of West Bengal for 34 years. After that people suffered during the last 10 years of Trinamool Congress rule. But people of West Bengal have realized the Trinamool- CPI(M) clandestine game. The people will give both the parties a fitting reply in the coming elections.”

Explaining the clandestine seat-sharing arrangement between Trinamool and CPI(M), Basu first referred to the high- profile Nandigram assembly constituency in East Midnapore district, where Mamata Banerjee is contesting against her once-trusted lieutenant and current BJP leader, Suvendu Adhikari.

“Around 35% of the voters in Nandigram come from the minority community. So logically, the initial decision of the Left Front was to sacrifice their claim for the seat for Abbas Siddique- floated AISF. But to everyone’s surprise, CPI(M) itself fielded a rookie candidate, Meenakshi Mukherjee from Nandigram. From this, it is clear that Trinamool has entered into an arrangement to CPI(M) to make the seat as safe as possible for the chief minister,” Sayantan Basu explained.

He also said that in return Trinamool paid back to CPI(M) by fielding weak and unknown candidates against two heavyweight CPI(M) leaders namely Ashok Bhattacharya in Siliguri and Dr Sujan Chakraborty in Jadavpur.

“In Siliguri, Trinamool has fielded Om Prakash Mishra, who is not only an outsider in Siliguri but just a television chat-show face of Trinamool. In Jadavpur also Trinamool Congress has fielded a totally unknown and rookie candidate, Amlan Majumdar. This means to ensure the chief minister’s victory in Nandigram, Trinamool has gifted CPI(M) with Siliguri and Jadavpur,” Basu said.