Amid concerted efforts by Mamata Banerjee to portray herself as the face of Opposition in India and project the Trinamool Congress as the alternative to check the Bharatiya Janata Party juggernaut, former Union minister P Chidambaram on Thursday claimed that it would be in the best interests of the country to have a unified opposition.
“Mamata Banerjee has a different approach, and we have a different approach. It will be good for the country if both approaches can converge,” the veteran Congress leader said today.
Referring to Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut’s insistence that there can’t be an opposition without the Congress party, Chidambaram said that Raut “made a responsible statement that we need a non-BJP opposition in the country and Congress must take the lead to bring all UPA parties together”.
“I have told Rahul (Gandhi) ji to take a lead in this and work towards it. There can be no (opposition) front without the Congress. What will two-three fronts of opposition do? I have not talked about any leader leading the front. I am only saying there should be only one front. If there are two-three fronts, then it cannot be an alternative. Only then can we present an alternative (against the BJP),” Raut told reporters in New Delhi earlier this week after meeting Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
In its mouthpiece ‘Jago Bangla’, the TMC on Wednesday said that the Congress party failed to be the face of Opposition.
“The Congress is incapable of carrying forward the baton of principal opposition. It was supposed to stop the BJP juggernaut. It is the main opposition party at the Centre. It is, however, indifferent, war-weary, burdened, torn apart by infighting and factionalism. But time doesn’t wait for anybody; someone has to come forward. The TMC will fulfil that responsibility. It is the real Congress,” the TMC said.
