Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee today dared the Congress and CPI(M) to make official their alliance and said that people would give them a befitting response in the upcoming Assembly elections.
"I heard that CPI(M) and Congress are trying to forge an alliance. I want this alliance to be made official. The people will give you a befitting reply," Banerjee said in the Assembly.
Her comments come in the wake of speculation that Congress and CPI(M) are planning to forge an alliance for the upcoming Assembly elections to defeat the ruling Trinamool Congress.
"You people are trying to forge an unholy alliance, but we have already forged an alliance of people. We will win again with the blessings of the people and the development work we have done in last five years," she said on the penultimate day of the current session of the House before the polls.
Banerjee also mocked a section of Congress leaders who advocated the tie-up with the Left.
"You are advocating alliance and criticising the present law and order situation. But let me remind you that more than 55,000 killings had taken place during Left rule," Banerjee said.
Responding to her comment, Opposition leader Surjya Kanta Mishra said people knew with whom she had forged alliance (in the past).
"Let her see her own image in the mirror. She had tied up with the Congress, then the BJP and again with the Congress. The people know it," Mishra said.
After the party's central committee meeting this month, the CPI(M) had stated that it would seek cooperation of all "democratic forces to strengthen people's unity in West Bengal to defeat Trinamool Congress".
This is interpreted as an indication to enter into some kind of understanding with the Congress.
