Even as the Left and the Congress put humiliating conditions to her Wednesday’s friendship proposals Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday retraced her steps saying she was misunderstood by the media as she had only suggested forming a social pressure group against an aggressive BJP and not of any political alliance with the two parties.
The Chief Minister had on Wednesday told in the State Assembly that the CPI(M) and the Congress should join hands with her in her fight against the communal forces only to be summarily snubbed by both the parties.
Banerjee in a letter read out to the media on Thursday said she had “not spoken about any alliance but I had only spoken about a social pressure group from all the parties including the Left and the Congress against the BJP.”
The Chief Minister’s clarifications came hours before political strategist Prashant Kishore visited her for the second time in a month and almost in tandem with senior BJP leader Mukul Roy welcoming her alliance initiative saying, “her call for CPI(M) and Congress’ support only proves her own political bankruptcy. It proves that the BJP and not the TMC is the party number one in Bengal.”
Roy further said that Banerjee’s alliance initiative will in the final run help the BJP. “The TMC like the Left will become a thing of the past in Bengal. The day is not far away,” he said.