Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, Abdul Mannan has shot off a letter to former Congress president Sonia Gandhi drawing her attention to the continuous defection of Congress Legislature Party members to Trinamul Congress.
Mannan’s letter comes just after chief minister, Mamata Banerjee met former Congress president Sonia Gandhi at the national Capital thereby brightening the possibility of the two outfits closing ranks at the national level.
The letter points out while the Trinamul chief have extended support to the Congress’s nominee in Rajya Sabha from the state, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, she has no hesitation in engineering defection from CLP ranks.
The last two MLAs who switched loyalities from Congress to Trinamul are Apurba Sarkar and Saoni Singha Roy, both from Murshiadabad district cnsid3ered to be a Congres stronghold.
The leader of the Oppostion has underscored that there are two sides of the ruling party’s interaction with Congress. On one hand, it is weakening the state Congress by welcoming deserters from the principal Opposition party, but on the other hand, it is extending a helping hand to Congress at the national level, he pointed out.
The Trinamul leadership with Mamata Banerjee at its head is always seeking to moblise public opinion against the “communal machinations of BJP”, the letter stated.
The Trinamul supremo is travelling all over the country to cobble together an alliance against BJP-led NDA government, he added.
But no anti-BJP alliance is possible without the presence of Congress, the leader of the Opposition pointed out. The efforts of Trinamul leaership is targetted at weakening the Congress in the state, he felt.
Is it aimed at weakening Congress in West Bengal so that the ruling party can strike a hard bargain with AICC when the parliamentary elections are announced next year, Mannan asked.
The actions of Trinamul leadership seems to be weakening the state unit while making a show of fiendship with the central leadership of Congress, he felt.