Congress, Trinamool are friends in Delhi but foes in Bengal

KOLKATA: Bilateral relation between Congress and Trinamool Congress in Delhi has improved following Mamata Banerjee's agitation against demonetization and Rahul Gandhi's support to her. But in Bengal, political rivalry between the two is expected to be continued as the Congress has announced to boycott the all-party meeting to be called by the Assembly speaker before February 3 budget session of the state Assembly.
"We will not attend the all-party meeting to be called by the speaker Biman Banerjee before the budget session to be held from February 3. Five of our MLAs have joined Trinamool Congress after last year's Assembly elections. We had urged the speaker to terminate their membership and ask them to clarify in which party they now belong to--- Congress or Trinamool Congress. But the speaker is going slow in taking action against these MLAs. I have given a letter to him on January 5. But the speaker is sitting on our plea to initiate action against the MLAs who defected from our party to join Trinamool Congress," opposition leader and Congress MLA Abdul Mannan told ET.

Earlier also, the Congress had boycotted the Assembly business advisory committee meeting which generally chalk out plans and fix up Assembly schedules.

The Congress will hold a gathering in front of the RBI here on Wednesday opposing people's harassment due to demonetization. "We are against the demonetization, but at the same time, we wish to highlight a number of chit fund scams in which poor people have lost their hard-earned money by depositing those with these chit fund companies. Many Trinamool Congress leaders are reportedly involved in such scams and CBI is currently probing these scams. We want arrests of all Trinamool leaders who are reportedly involved in such scams," Mannan said.

The Congress and Trinamool Congress are fighting jointly the demonetization move by Narendra Modi in Delhi. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee had addressed a joint press conference in Delhi condemning Modi for introducing the demonetization move. But in Bengal, the two parties continue to fight each other and the budget session of the state Assembly from February 3 is likely to witness a stiffer battle between the two parties even though they are friendly in Delhi.