Mamata welcomes veteran UP Congress leaders, says TMC footprint expanding

Grandsons of former Uttar Pradesh chief minister, Kamlapati Tripathi, Lalitpati Tripathi and Rajeshpati Tripathi have joined the Trinamool Congress party in Silguri. While addressing the occasion, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the BJP is deliberately using different agencies to silence the opposition.

Silguri:After Goa witnessed Congress leaders switching sides to the Trinamool Congress party, two Congress leaders from Uttar Pradesh have joined the latter party on Monday. Veteran Congress leaders Lalitpati Tripathi and Rajeshpati Tripathi joined the ruling party in West Bengal. Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee was present during the occasion in Siliguri. Both of them are grandsons of former Uttar Pradesh chief minister, Kamlapati Tripathi.

A few days ago, the duo tendered their resignation from the Congress and speculations were rife that they would join the TMC. According a warm welcome to the party, Banerjee said that the acceptance of Trinamool Congress as a national party is increasing. “I have decided to go to Uttar Pradesh after Chat Puja. I will go to other places as well. I will manage time from my busy schedule in West Bengal,” said Banerjee.

Speaking on the occasion, she alleged that BJP is trying to stop Trinamool Congress leaders from entering other states. “We are being stopped at Tripura. In Goa also, we were not allowed to hold meetings. We all know what has happened at Hathras in Uttar Pradesh. Our representatives were not allowed to Hathras then,” she alleged.

Taking a dig a Congress, she said, “Congress has got enough potential to counter BJP. But what have you done for the last ten years? You are not able to counter BJP and so people are joining us to achieve that,” she said. Further, she said that similar to Goa, people in Uttar Pradesh will burgeon the influence of TMC there.

In addition, she said that the BJP is deliberately using different agencies to silence the opposition. “Their concentration is only in silencing the opposition voice instead of resolving burning issues like fuel price hike and inflation,” she said.

Rajeshpati Tripathi during his address said that Congress leaders throughout the country seem to be losing the courage to fight against BJP. “Surely, some kind of weakness seeped into Congress. So I feel that Congress leaders throughout the country will join under Mamata Banerjee’s leadership and fight to reestablish Gandhian philosophy in the country,” he said.

Echoing him, Lalitpati Tripathi said that the people of Uttar Pradesh are politically alert and they have always tried to establish new political alternatives in the state. “I am confident that the people of Uttar Pradesh will now give scope to Trinamool Congress under Mamata Banerjee’s leadership,” he said.