Mamata urges regional parties to unite against BJP

Kolkata, April 21 (IANS) Terming the country's political situation "terrible", West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday reinforced her message to all the regional parties to come together to corner the BJP.

"I am giving the message to all the regional parties, be together, be united. My party will stand by all of you. Because this is the right time that the parties unite for the people," Banerjee said at the end of a programme of her Trinamool Congress.

"A terrible thing is going on in the country in the name of politics. The situation in the country is such now that this is an opportunity for all the regional parties to get together and fight united," she said while addressing the party workers after the organisational election of the party for the national council members.

Banerjee was re-elected Trinamool's Chairperson for six years.

Taking a swipe at the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Central government, the Trinamool supremo said she would travel all over the country to convince people for building an allied front if the BJP tries to capture Bengal.

"If they take up the strategy to capture Bengal, my strategy is to go from place to place in the country and unite everyone," she said.

Banerjee also asked her party workers present at the meeting to consolidate the party in the state and help the neighbouring states when needed.

She urged everyone to take the next two years as a challenge to fight day and night until the "wrongdoers" are toppled at the Centre.

Responding to her statement, BJP state unit President Dilip Ghosh noted BJP retained political control over 65 per cent of the nation and Banerjee's attempt to topple it by uniting regional forces would fail.

He said that in the face of BJP's massive success in recent elections, several national parties have "shrunk to regional parties" while the regional parties are breaking into pieces.

"Parties like Congress and CPI-M that were considered to be national parties, have become regional parties after BJP's massive success in the recently concluded elections and by-elections. On the other hand, regional parties like AIADMK and Samajwadi Party are breaking into pieces and becoming extinct. The same can be said about Mayawati's BSP. How can they stop the BJP.

"Banerjee is trying to unite the other parties as she is scared after seeing the recent success of BJP in Bengal. She is so scared that she has urged the CPI-M to find out why their party cadres are joining the BJP. However, her attempt will fail," he added.