‘Akhilesh expresses solidarity with Trinamool on Cong-less alliance’

Kolkata, March 17 (IANS) Samajwadi Party chief and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has reportedly expressed solidarity with Trinamool Congress’ over its move to forge an Opposition alliance against BJP without having Congress in the group.

The Samajwadi Party chief reportedly assured the West Bengal chief minister and the All India Trinamool Congress’ national president Mamata Banerjee on this count during an an hour-long meeting between the two at the latter’s residence in South Kolkata on Friday evening.

However, at the end of the meeting, neither Mamata Banerjee nor Akhilesh Yadav gave any specific confirmation on the agreement reached between the two parties on this count.

Despite repeated queries by the mediapersons, none of the two leaders were willing to speak on the specific points of the meeting.

However, Trinamool Congress sources said that “Samajwadi Party is in agreement with Trinamool Congress”.

Sources claimed that Congress’ “Big Boss” attitude is the main reason why an initiative of opposition alliance maintaining a distance with Congress has become necessary.

The meeting between Mamata Banerjee and Akhilesh Yadav was preceded by an extended core committee meeting of Trinamool Congress where the ruling party of West Bengal took an official decision to maintain a distance with Congress, as confirmed by the leader of Trinamool Congress in Lok Sabha Sudip Bandopadhyay.

He also said “in reality, the BJP was using Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as a tool to ensure that there is no opposition unity against BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls”.

Before the crucial meeting with Mamata Banerjee, while speaking to the mediapersons at the sidelines of Samajwadi Party’s national working committee at a hotel in Kolkata, Akhilesh Yadav targeted Congress for “showing the way on using central agencies like Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against opposition parties”.

“This is not the first time that the ruling party has used CBI and ED. Even Congress used such agencies earlier. Now, the BJP is doing the same thing. But history says that any party who had unlawfully used central agencies while in power had to finally face humiliating defeat at the end of the day,” Akhilesh Yadav said.