Trinamool is B-team of BJP? Relation turn sour with Cong

Kolkata, Jan 5: With the honeymoon period between the Congress and the Trinamool Congress slowly coming to an end, the real faces of both parties are rearing their ugly heads. The rift first surfaced over the issue of FDI in retail, and then extended when Mamata Banerjee proposed renaming of the Indira Bhavan in West Bengal.

The rift is split wide open after the Congress leadership in West Bengal accused its alliance partner as being the 'B-team' of the BJP. Deepa Dasmunsi, a Congress MP has been quoted as saying, "We are being constantly blamed as the B-team of the CPI (M). But it is Trinamool which has been on the same boat with BJP on the issue of FDI in retail. They along with BJP and the Left had opposed the FDI in retail. In the case of Lokpal bill also, Trinamool MPs in Rajya Sabha took the same tone as that of the CPI(M)."

Mamata Banerjee had earlier accused the Congress of liasing with the Communists to cause maximum damage to the Trinamool Congress. Speaking on the same lines as Dasmunsi, Manas Bhuniya, another Cong leader added, "Why is Trinamool always criticizing us by saying that we are the B-team of CPI (M) if we don't agree with them on certain issues?"

The fact that Mamata had opposed the Congress on the contentious Lokpal Bill issue has also not gone down well. Mamata had commented that the bill seeks to “encroach upon the authority of states."

The Congress, however, refuted any rift in the Trinamool-Congress relationship. Party spokesperson Manish Tewari stated, "There is no dispute with Trinamool Congress. We have a very good relationship with Trinamool Congress. But yes, there can be two different thoughts on the same topic. But to name those two thoughts as dispute, is not correct. The Chief Minister of West Bengal is saying the Congress and the Left are working in tandem. Congress is an ally of the Trinamool."

OneIndia News