Mamata calls on regional parties to join and defeat BJP in 2019

Urging all regional parties to join hands to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2019 general elections, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday warned the saffron brigade that alarm bells have already started ringing for them. "All regional parties should join hands to defeat the BJP in 2019 (Lok Sabha poll)," Banerjee said at a rally organised by her party, the Trinamool Congress on International Women's Day.

Significantly, Banerjee’s call on regional parties comes a few days after Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao issued a call for a “non-Congress, non-BJP” Third Front. Subsequently Derek O'Brien, Rajya Sabha MP and senior Trinamool Congress leader told PTI that there is "good coordination" between Rao’s Telangana Rashtra Samithi, the Telugu Desam Party, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Left parties, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Trinamool Congress and all Opposition parties in Parliament on various issues.

Banerjee predicted the BJP's defeat next year, and asked it to introspect whether it was in a position to retain power at the Centre. Ridiculing BJP's target of unseating the Trinamool to capture power in Bengal, Banerjee said it would remain a "dream". "Stop dreaming about coming to power in Bengal, look at yourselves and see whether you are in a position to retain power at the centre," the Chief Minister said.

Referring to the TDP quitting Narendra Modi's government, Banerjee asked the BJP whether it could hear the sound of revolt. "Are you (BJP) not able to hear the sound of revolt from various parts of the country? Are you not able to read the results in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat? The TDP has walked out [of the Union Cabinet]," she said. Decrying the centre's failure to give a special category status to Andhra Pradesh, the TDP has quit the Modi government, with its Ministers P Ashok Gajapathi Raju (Civil Aviation) and YS Chowdary (Science and Technology) submitting their resignations.

In another move to unite the Opposition, UPA Chairperson and former Congress President Sonia Gandhi is hosting a dinner for Opposition leaders on March 13.

With IANS inputs.