KOLKATA: With calls for a united Opposition against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) increasing, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has stated that she isn't averse to working with Congress towards a common goal. She expressed confidence that a grand alliance of opposition parties is possible. The Trinamool Congress supremo said, “It's better to work with the Congress to oust the BJP government at the Centre which is behaving like “a hundred Hitlers”. Speaking to a magazine, Banerjee said, “They are committing atrocities, inflicting torture. Even some BJP people are not supporting them. They are behaving like a hundred Hitlers.”
Banerjee expressed confidence that a grand alliance of opposition parties is possible. She added that she shares a good rapport with UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi but has never worked with Congress President Rahul Gandhi, whom she described as “much junior”. The TMC chief however, dismissed questions on Prime Ministerial ambitions but spoke on all parties working together. Banerjee added that she has no problem working with anybody as long as they are efficient and have clear ideologies.
A faction of West Bengal Congress leaders earlier met Congress president Rahul Gandhi from amid growing divisions in the state unit over allying with the Left or Trinamool Congress for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Sources said 41 Congress leaders from the state, including MLAs, MPs, former MPs and chiefs of frontal organisations, met Gandhi and expressed their varied opinions. Apart from state unit chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, those who met Gandhi included party MP Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury, former MPs Deepa Dasmunsi and Somen Mitra and party MLA Mainul Haque.
