Mamata Banerjee meets opposition parties to build anti-BJP alliance
TMC chief Mamata Banerjee met leaders of opposition parties to rally them into a 'federal front' and fight the BJP 'one-to-one' in all states
New Delhi: In an effort to stitch together an anti-BJP alliance across the country before 2019 Lok Sabha elections, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee reached out to key opposition leaders on Tuesday during a four-day visit to the national capital.
The Trinamool Congress chief also met Shiv Sena leaders and is now planning to meet disgruntled BJP leaders on Wednesday.
“We want all opposition parties to work together. We should help the strongest opposition party in a state fight the BJP. It should be one fight,” Banerjee told reporters.
Banerjee visited Parliament where she met Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena parliamentarian Sanjay Raut and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) member of Parliament Misa Bharti.
“Had a fruitful meeting with Mamata Banerjee regarding opposition unity and strategy for 2019,” Bharti said after the meeting.
The meetings come as both houses of Parliament continue to see repeated adjournments for the 16th day running in the second half of the budget session.
Banerjee said that she was unable to meet former Congress president Sonia Gandhi who is unwell. She added that she was willing to travel to Lucknow to meet the heads of the Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party.
Attacking the central government, Banerjee said that issues like demonetization and goods and services tax (GST) had started to affect people.
“People are against the BJP. I have travelled to all the states. I know the mood of the people. Issues like demonetization, GST, and bank fraud have affected people even at the grassroots level. The time has come for BJP to pack up and go,” she said.
Interestingly, Banerjee is scheduled to meet leaders from the BJP including Shatrughan Sinha, Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie on Wednesday.
Banerjee, who has been attempting to bring about unity among opposition leaders, met Telangana chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao last week.
PTI contributed to this story.
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First Published:28 Mar 2018, 04:39 AM IST
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