Mamata, BJP pact after polls

Kolkata: CPM General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on Sunday said that the Trinamool Congress has to be defeated first to stop the communal bandwagon of the RSS-BJP, and claimed that the TMC might rejoin the NDA to form the government in West Bengal in case of a hung assembly.

Terming the ongoing political tussle between the TMC and the BJP as a "mock fight", Yechury alleged that the saffron party is using money from the PM CARES fund, set up to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, to "buy" leaders during the time of elections.

"The farmers at the Singhu border in Delhi are fighting against the (Narendra) Modi government's anti-people policies. If farmers who provide us with food can put up such a gallant fight, we too can do it here," he said.

"This grand alliance of the Left and the secular forces will fight to defeat the corrupt TMC government and the BJP in the state, will fight for a better Bengal," Yechury said while addressing a joint rally at the Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata ahead of the assembly election in West Bengal.

The CPM leader alleged that the Mamata Banerjee administration is doing the same to youths what the Narendra Modi government is doing against the farmers. "Many people ask me what we would do in case of a hung assembly.

I tell them to direct their question to the TMC as they are in the best position to answer it.

Criticising the BJP for attacking several other political parties, especially the Congress, over the issue of dynasty politics, Yechury wondered how Union Home Minister Amit Shah's son became the secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).