BJP trying to get close to TMC: Buddhadeb Bhattacharya

By withdrawing its candidate for the Howrah Lok Sabha by-election, BJP was trying to get close to Trinamool Congress and gain a footing in West Bengal, CPI(M) PB member Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee claimed. He was speaking at a public metting organised as part of election campaign to Howrah bye election.  "BJP is sending a message to Trinamool Congress, which has broken its tie-up with Congress, by withdrawing its candidate, that its doors are open," Bhattacharjee said at a public meeting in howrah.  Claiming that the Trinamool Congress and the BJP were going for a tie-up in the coming general elections, the former chief minister said, "Narendra Modi's BJP wants to enter the political arena of the state, where it has little foothold, and create communal disharmony."

As such, the Trinamool Congress cannot be supported," the party's politburo member said while campaigning for CPI(M) candidate Sridip Bhattacharya for the by-election, which was necessitated by the demise of Trinamool Congress MP Ambika Banerjee. "People neither want Congress nor BJP, they want other forces to unite and come forward," Bhattacharjee said.  "People are not happy with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for selling off state-owned companies, decontrolling petrol and diesel and failure to start a PDS system," he said.

He also claimed that the state was suffering from lack of job creation, flight of industries to other states and lawlessness. "Given this situation, if a Left candidate goes to Lok Sabha from Howrah, it will send a strong message," Bhattacharjee said.

The leader also alleged that anti-social elements were playing a significant part in the affairs of the Trinamool Congress, referring to the murder of a TMC leader at Bally in Howrah district for daring to stand up against real estate developers.