In the panchayat polls due next year, BJP MP Saumitra Khan urged all opposition parties to join forces with the saffron camp.
Despite Khan’s proposal, the Congress and Left Front dismissed it as a “two-sided coin” between the BJP and the TMC.
In West Bengal, the ruling TMC argued that Khan’s appeal proved there is a tacit understanding between the three parties.
There should be a TMC versus all battle in the rural polls. All we want is to defeat the TMC, and anyone or any force willing to fight against the TMC can join hands. Khan told reporters that if someone at the booth level defeated the TMC and needed our support, we would support them.
In Purba Medinipur and other parts of the state, opposition parties won cooperative elections.
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, West Bengal Congress president, said his party would never enter into a coalition with the saffron camp.
‘Yes, we are fighting against the TMC in West Bengal, but that does not mean we will join the BJP. We see both as grave threats to Bengal,’ he said.
It is likely that both the TMC and the BJP will be defeated in the near future by the Left and secular forces, according to CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty.
TMC and BJP leaders are one and the same. Those who led the TMC a few years ago are now leading the BJP or vice-versa. There is no difference between the two, so joining up with the BJP doesn’t make sense,” he said.
TMC ruled that the cat was now out of the bag.
“We have been claiming that the Left, Congress and BJP have a tacit understanding in West Bengal since the last Lok Sabha elections. Saumitra Khan has proven us right,” senior TMC leader Tapas Ray said.
