Mitra publicly acknowledges Mamata’s leadership

CALCUTTA, APRIL 14: In a significant development, Union Railway Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee and former West Beng...

CALCUTTA, APRIL 14: In a significant development, Union Railway Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee and former West Bengal PCC chief Somen Mitra appeared together to flag off the Akal Takht Express at the Sealdah station here on Thursday afternoon. This is the first function in which the two have come together after talks of an alliance between the Trinamool Congress, the BJP and a section of the PCC.

Speaking at the programme, Mitra, who hailed Mamata as the ‘new leader’ of Bengal, said, "Over the years, Mamata has emerged as the symbol of hope for the people of Bengal as well as the political forces that want to oust the CPI(M) from the seat of power." He said an anti-Left alliance could be formed with the BJP no matter what the party high command had to say.

Later, Mamata addressed the gathering but avoided giving a political colour to what Mitra said and for the time being left politics to him.

Mitra, however, ruled out the possibility of floating a new party and said he would continue to be in the Congress. "We were in the Congress, we are in the Congress and we will be in the Congress," Mitra told PTI here.

Mitra said that some leaders with an ‘ulterior motive’ were trying to defame him and PCC president A B A Ghani Khan Chowdhury regarding their decision to join the mahajot.

On the BJP being a partner of the mahajot, he said that they were only aligning with the Trinamool Congress. "We never said that we are going to have any truck with the BJP."

Mitra said that PCC working president Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, who was now criticising the grand alliance, a few days ago had stated that the Bengal Congress should chart its own path to fight the CPI(M). Dasmunshi had also claimed that the grand alliance was his brainchild, Mitra said.