Congress miffed with Mamata Banerjee’s TMC for not supporting Bharat Bandh

The Trinamool Congress has refused to extend its support to Bharat Bandh, called by the Congress party on Monday, September 10, over continuous rise in petrol and diesel prices. Targeting West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress, the grand old party termed the former’s stand as “contradictory”.

Talking to mediapersons about the call for Bharat Bandh, West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Saturday said that the taxes levied by the Centre on petrol and diesel was nothing short of an “economic disaster”. He added that the Trinamool Congress had worsened the situation by imposing VAT on fuel.

While the Trinamool Congress said that it did support the issues on which the bandh has been called, it was against a strike and would take all measures to ensure that public services remained functional in West Bengal during the Bharat Bandh.

Trinamool Congress general secretary Parth Chatterjee said that the government was against causing any inconvenience to people because of the strike. It, however, added that the though the party would not be a part of the bandh, it would hold protests on the issues across the state.

Several opposition parties, including the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) have extended their support to the Congress-led bandh. The NCP had appealed to other opposition parties to join the strike.

Besides the Congress-led bandh, the Left parties have given a separate call for Bharat Bandh for Monday over hike in fuel prices, farmers’ issues and unemployment.

Talking about the bandh call, veteran Congress leader and former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot had told the media that the consensus to protest against the rising fuel prices and the rupee slump was reached after a meeting of all party general secretaries and the state leaders.