Mamata Banerjee attacks BJP, Cong, Left but separates Bengal Congress with national leadership

Kolkata, Dec 5: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee attacked the BJP as usual from a rally in Nandigram in East Midnapore district of the state on Wednedsay, December 6. However, she did something different this time while targeting the saffron party and political observers found an interesting angle into it.

During her speech, the Trinamool Congress supremo lashed out at the BJP over issues like Bulandshahr clashes and the death of a police officer besides lynching and Hindutva. She has done the same earlier as well and after a point of time, has invariably equated the BJP with the Left and Congress claiming she has been fighting it against a combined unholy alliance between the three Opposition parties.

On Wednesday, she did the same again but with a little difference. She mentioned the name of the Congress but only that of the state and not the central leadership. This is significant, according to the political observers, for she deliberately did it to give a message to the high command that she has no issues with the top leadership. Banerjee though requires the Congress a little in the state where she is the most powerful force at the moment, she certainly needs the Congress and vice-versa when it comes to the national scene. The anti-BJP parties are burning a lot of midnight oil of late to put in place an alliance ahead of the next Lok Sabha elections as was seen during the recent visits by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu to different states, including Bengal, to take the regional satraps into confidence. He has also exhibited his friendship with the Congress by joining hands with its president Rahul Gandhi. Banerjee has these calculations in mind and she hence differentiated the state Congress from the national Congress while attacking her opponents from the rally in Nandigram.

The state chapter of the Congress has always been opposed to Banerjee. The central leadership even changed Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, a vocal anti-Banerjee leader, in the recent past to ensure that the path to reconciliation ahead of the general elections is not too difficult.