“Mamata anti-BJP alliance politics exploded into a fresh opposition battle on Sunday after Congress and Left parties rejected Mamata Banerjee’s proposal following the BJP’s Bengal sweep.“
Kolkata— A sharp political split opened inside India’s opposition camp on Sunday after the Congress and Left parties publicly rejected an appeal from West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee to form a united platform against the BJP following the BJP’s sweeping victory in the state assembly elections. The rejection was unusually direct.
“We will not accept anyone identified as criminal, extortionist, corrupt and communal”, CPI(M) state secretary Md Salim said while responding to Banerjee’s appeal for a broader anti-BJP alliance that included Congress, Left groups and what she described as “ultra-Left” forces.
The remarks came days after the BJP won 207 seats in the 294 member West Bengal assembly, reducing Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress to 80 seats, according to election figures cited by multiple national outlets.
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Opposition Fault Lines Surface
Banerjee issued the appeal after BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari was sworn in as chief minister. In a recorded message released Saturday, she urged “all opposition parties, student organisations and NGOs” to unite against the BJP in Bengal and nationally. “Along with the national parties, I urge the Leftists and the ultra-Leftists to unite in Bengal as well as in Delhi”, Banerjee said. Congress leaders reacted angrily.
State Congress spokesperson Soumya Aich Roy questioned Banerjee’s reference to the “ultra-Left,” asking whether she meant Maoists responsible for the 2013 attack in Chhattisgarh that killed 18 Congress workers and leaders.
The Left Front and Congress have accused the TMC for years of enabling political violence and corruption in Bengal. Both parties argued Sunday that the BJP’s rise in the state was partly driven by anti-incumbency against Banerjee’s government.
“The question of joining forces with Banerjee doesn’t arise”, CPI leader Swapan Banerjee said. “Democracy was in peril during her regime.”
BJP Expands in Bengal
The BJP’s victory marks its strongest performance ever in West Bengal, a state long dominated by the Left Front and later by Banerjee’s TMC after her 2011 rise to power.
Adhikari’s role is politically significant. Once a senior TMC leader, he defected to the BJP before emerging as one of Banerjee’s fiercest critics during the campaign.
After taking office, Adhikari dismissed Banerjee’s latest outreach effort, saying, “She is irrelevant in politics.”
The confrontation has exposed deep fractures inside the broader anti-BJP opposition bloc at a time when regional parties are struggling to balance local rivalries with national coalition politics.
TMC leaders did not respond to several media queries on Sunday regarding the Congress and Left criticism.
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