New Delhi:
Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote to ten key opposition leaders including Congress’s Sonia Gandhi today, suggesting a big get-together for a strategy to take on the BJP after the current round of assembly polls. The strongly worded seven-point letter said the time has come for a “united and effective struggle against BJP’s attacks on democracy and the constitution” and “presenting a credible alternative to the people of India”.
Staring with the controversial new law that gives more powers to Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor — the Centre’s representative — compared to the city’s elected government, Ms Banerjee presented seven instances of what she called the BJP’s “assaults” on democracy and cooperative Federalism.
“The BJP wants to make it impossible for non-BJP parties to exercise their constitutional rights and freedoms. It wants to dilute the powers of the state governments and downgrade them to mere municipalties. In short, it wants to establish a one-party authoritarian rule in India,” she wrote.
“I strongly believe that the time has come for a united and effective struggle against BJP’s attacks on democracy and the constitution… As the chairperson of TMC, I shall work wholeheartedly with you and all other like-minded parties in this battle,” Ms Banerjee wrote.
Besides Sonia Gandhi, the letter was sent to Natinalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, DMK’s Stalin, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, YSR Congress chief Jagan Mohan Reddy, BJD chief Naveen Patnaik, Telangana Rashtra Samithi chief K Chandrashekar Rao, Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav, Rashtriya Jana Dal’s Tejaswi Yadav and Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal. The notable exclusions were CPI and CPIM.