Anti-BJP front minus Congress? Mamata Banerjee, KCR differ on 2019 path

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her Telangana counterpart Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao (KCR), who met in Kolkata today to discuss a broad alliance ahead of 2019 elections, differed on the issue to include Congress in the anti-BJP federal front. 

In a joint press conference after the two-hour meeting at Nabanna, the state secretariat, Rao in an unambiguous term said that he would want the unity of non-BJP and non-Congress parties and that the front would be different than the routine.

“You know for the last 71 years what has been happening in the country. Do you want the same routine model to continue? If you are angry with BJP and replace it with the Congress will there be a miracle? This country needs miracles. For that, it has been a good beginning in Kolkata. This country needs to change, reinvent, reorient. For that we had discussed,” he said.

Mamata, on the other hand, parried the question of not including the Congress in the front and kept herself limited to saying: “There will be a discussion with all like-minded parties.” 

When asked whether her party was averse to joining hands with the Congress, she retorted, saying "Don't put your words in my mouth. Whatever Mr Rahul (Congress President Rahul Gandhi) has said, I fully agree with him. He has expressed his views. What is the harm in it? "

"Rahul had expressed his views yesterday, but he has not asked what will be our view ... We will express our views," she said. “Why should I tell you everything on one day? Some of the things would be told in future.”

KCR said it was only the "beginning of the whole thing" and that the rest would be decided as and when meetings with other party leaders take place.

He said the process for creation of a federal front has begun and he would now talk to like-minded parties.

"We are trying to bring in a real federal front. Today is the beginning of the federal front, the beginning of the whole thing. We had fruitful discussions about it. We will talk to all like-minded parties to create an alternative against the Congress and the BJP," he said.

When asked about who would lead the proposed front, he said it will have a collective leadership. Rao said the federal front will be a "people's front".

Banerjee said talks for a broad-based front have just begun and there is no need to hurry.

"In a democracy, such situation comes up when all parties need to come together to work ... We don't want a particular party to rule the nation and do whatever they like," she said.

"Every political party is having its own identity. No one should feel proud of their identity. Every political party has its regional strength, has its national strength, and everyone should respect each other", she said.

Rao also praised Mamata for her achievements, saying that Kolkata was a dying city when he had visited 14 years ago, but the skyline of the city has changed appreciably under the leadership of ‘didi’.

Reacting to the meeting, Congress Rajya Sabha member Pradip Bhattacharya said that Mamata had realised that there would be no alternative to BJP without the inclusion of Congress. 

“Earlier too, CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat had attempted unsuccessfully to put up such a non-BJP, non-Congress front. It is good that Mamata has not toed the same line,” he said.

State BJP leaders, however, scoffed at the meeting. 

“People had tried these earlier as well but to no effect. They do it to satisfy their greed and ego. These will only result in an increased support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” said BJP national secretary and former state BJP president Rahul Sinha.

(With PTI inputs)