'War against common enemy'; Mamata Banerjee calls for opposition unity against BJP

KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee called for opposition party unity against the Bharatiya Janata Party. Mamata said that her party is preparing for a legal battle following its heavy defeat in the West Bengal assembly elections.

Saying that a reign of terror has begun in Bengal, Mamata appealed to all opposition parties, student organisations, and NGOs in Bengal to unite against the BJP. Mamata said that a joint platform of anti-BJP parties should be formed and asked the Left and the extreme Left in Delhi and Bengal to stand with the Trinamool Congress. Mamata said that the opposition parties should consider BJP as the enemy number one.

Trinamool also opened up about their readiness to hold talks with any political party interested in joining hands. Mamata said that she spoke to Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Uddhav Thackeray, Tejashwi Yadav, Hemant Soren, and Arvind Kejriwal about the issue. Former Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav had personally met her.

BJP stormed to power in West Bengal for the first time by winning 207 out of 294 seats. Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress was relegated to 80 seats. Mamata alleged that the BJP, the Election Commission and the central forces colluded in vote tampering and engaged in fraud to oust TMC out of power.