CPM, TMC and Congress should come together to defeat BJP: Mamata Banerjee

Kolkata, June 26: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday reached out to arch-rival CPI(M) and Congress to fight against the saffron party together.

"The people of the state are witnessing in Bhatpara what happens if you vote for the BJP. I feel all of us [TMC, Congress and CPI(M)] should come together in the fight against the BJP. It doesn't mean we have to join hands politically, but on common issues at the national level, we can come together," she said.

A TMC citadel for long, Bhatpara has been witnessing frequent post-poll violence between the rival Bharatiya Janata Party and the Trinamool Congress. The fight has intensified ever since Arjun Singh crossed over from the TMC to the BJP and won the Barrackpore Lok Sabha seat, under which Bhatpara falls.

"Those who will spread fake news and try to instigate riots, the administration will take stern action against them," the CM added.

Making her stand clear on the cut-money issue, West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee asserted there was nothing wrong in trying to discipline party workers, but no one had the right to malign them without evidence.

"Whatever I had to say, I had said it at an internal meeting of party councillors. What is wrong if I try to discipline my party workers? What is wrong if I ask my party workers to ensure that there is no misuse of government schemes?" Banerjee said in the state assembly.

Protests and demonstrations have rocked various parts of the state for the past one week over people demanding that "cut money" allegedly taken by elected representatives of the ruling TMC from beneficiaries of government schemes be returned.