Mamata Banerjee thanked Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) working president MK Stalin on Wednesday for his support to the federal front that the West Bengal Chief Minister is trying to forge ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Stalin has been spearheading agitations in Tamil Nadu against the Centre’s failure to constitute the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) within the six-week deadline given by the Supreme Court in a judgment on 16 February.
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The 65-year-old son of DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi took to Twitter on Wednesday extending his support.
“DMK has always stood for the unity of regional parties and stronger federal co-operation,” he wrote.
Tagging the official Twitter handle of the Trinamool Congress chief, Stalin wrote, “I endorse the efforts of @MamataOfficial to bring together various political parties to oppose the autocratic and antidemocratic rule of the BJP.”
In response, Mamata Banerjee thanked Stalin and said that her party was in complete support of such an alliance.
Stalin’s ‘support’ came a day after Banerjee made a strong pitch for an alliance of all anti-BJP while putting the ball in the Congress’ court over a decision to join such an alliance.
Speaking to a TV channel on Tuesday, Banerjee said the Congress won’t be able to fight Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“So all states must come together for a united front,” she said, adding that such an alliance was needed in a democracy.
“The Congress has its limitations. It has to accept it,” said Banerjee, adding that it was for the grand old party to decide whether it would join the federal front and agree to the “one-on-one formula”.
She also underlined why her party didn’t support the impeachment notice moved by the Congress and six other parties against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra.
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“I told Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi not to go for impeachment. I can’t criticise the judge but can criticise the judgment,” she said, adding that the Congress “was wrong to give impeachment notice”.
Interestingly, DMK, too, had not supported the notice.
Banerjee and Stalin had a telephonic conversation in March during which the West Bengal leader had asked DMK to join the front. DMK, which is the main opposition party in Tamil Nadu, has not yet given a clear sign on it.
