BERHAMPORE: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee issued a warning to the Congress, stating that the Trinamul Congress would not provide national support if they aligned with the BJP and CPM in West Bengal. “The Congress wants us to support them in the Parliament in the fight against the BJP. We will support them as we too want to fight the BJP. But they should not expect us to support them in Bengal if they continue to have an understanding with the CPM and the BJP to fight against us here,” she said.
The warning came in the wake of a clash between TMC and Congress workers in Murshidabad, resulting in the death of a TMC worker, Mozammel Sheikh, and injuries to the father of a Congress candidate, Meherulla Sheikh. The incident occurred after TMC members allegedly threatened the Congress candidate against contesting the elections.
Mamata Banerjee defended her party, claiming that the nomination process in West Bengal was peaceful overall, and accused Opposition parties, including CPM, Congress, BJP, and the ISF, of attempting to politicise isolated incidents. She attributed the deployment of Central paramilitary forces in the state for the panchayat election to the collective efforts of these Opposition parties.
Furthermore, Mamata criticised the effectiveness of Central forces, citing incidents in Manipur where a minister's house was set on fire, and 150 people were killed despite their deployment. She questioned the response of the Central forces in such situations.
