Mamata Banerjee pushes for opposition unity at TMC’s Martyrs’ Day rally

TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday appealed to all INDIA bloc constituents, including the Congress and the CPI(M), in West Bengal to bury their differences and unite against the BJP (Source: Photo by Partha Paul)

Addressing the annual July 21 Martyrs' Day rally organised by the Kalighat faction of the TMC near Birla Planetarium, Banerjee said the fight against the BJP was bigger than individual or political egos (Source: Photo by Partha Paul)

Though she did not name the Congress or the CPI(M), her remarks were seen as an appeal to the TMC's INDIA bloc partners, with whom it has maintained an uneasy relationship in West Bengal (Source: Photo by Partha Paul)

While Banerjee's faction held the Martyrs' Day programme near Birla Planetarium, the breakaway faction led by Ritabrata Banerjee organised a parallel rally on Mayo Road in central Kolkata, highlighting the organisational crisis that has gripped the party since the BJP came to power in the state earlier this year (Source: Photo by Partha Paul)

Banerjee extended an olive branch to opposition parties, but adopted a combative tone towards the rebels. "I challenge the traitors to directly join the BJP and fight elections," she said, accusing them of functioning as proxies of the saffron party (Source: Photo by Partha Paul)

She said those wishing to support the BJP were free to leave the Trinamool Congress, adding that the party's students and youth workers were ready to fill every vacancy. She also asserted that leaders who had defected to the BJP would never be taken back into the party (Source: Photo by Partha Paul)

The TMC chief said the rebels, with the help of the BJP, are trying to take away the party's "twin flower" symbol but can't take it away as she is the founder-chairperson (Source: Photo by Partha Paul)

Banerjee also accused the BJP of trying to prevent her TMC camp from holding the Martyrs' Day programme, alleging that party workers had to guard the stage throughout the previous night after it was targeted (Source: Photo by Partha Paul)