Didi pads up, asks BJP to pack up

​New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee met Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar in the national capital on Tuesday, triggering speculation that she is trying to galvanise opposition parties for a united fight against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2019 parliamentary polls. 

Banerjee, who heads the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, met Shiv Sena parliamentarian Sanjay Raut as well. The meeting assumes significance as the Shiv Sena, the BJP’s embittered ally in Maharashtra, has announced to break the tie-up before 2019. “When political people meet, they will discuss politics, of course. There is nothing to hide. 

The Lok Sabha elections of 2019 will certainly be very interesting,” Banerjee said after visiting Parliament and meeting MPs of several opposition parties.

She met TRS parliamentarian K Kavitha, the daughter of Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao. Reports say that Banerjee also met DMK leader K Kanimozhi and TDP MP YS Chowdary. The TDP has recently ended its four-year alliance with the BJP over its demand for special status for Andhra Pradesh.

Banerjee is likely to meet Sonia Gandhi, the former chief of the Congress, the party the West Bengal leader broke away from to launch the Trinamool Congress. “Yes, Soniaji is not well right now and recovering. We will meet her once she is fine. Will certainly go if they (Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav) call us to Lucknow,” she said.

The West Bengal Chief Minister is also expected to meet rebel BJP leaders Shatrughan Sinha, Yashwant Sinha and former Union minister Arun Shourie — all bitter critics of the BJP’s new leadership and its policies.

While interacting with the media, Banerjee highlighted the BJP’s differences with the TDP and other regional parties and said, “need to support these parties to have a one-to-one fight with the BJP.” 
‘BJP most communal party’

The West Bengal CM then goes on to call the Bharatiya Janata Party a communal party and said, “There is no bigger communal party in the country than the BJP. They bring disrespect to the meaning of Hindutva.” She added, “We should all help the strongest regional parties so that there is a one-to-one contest against the BJP everywhere.”

“There is no privacy, democratic rights for people. With money, this government is misusing technology for their gains,” Banerjee said and talked about GST and demonetisation. “By introducing GST and demonetisation, this government has lost all its credibility,” she added.