TMC explains its ‘nuanced’ opposition ahead of Mamata Banerjee's meeting with PM Narendra Modi

NEW DELHI: A week before West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee's meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Trinamool Congress chief's two-day visit to the Capital, her party tried to bring some nuance into its position in Parliament, to ensure that it is seen as part of the opposition benches rather than supporting the BJP government at the Centre.

TMC on Thursday tried hard to do away with the sense of ambiguity it has conveyed in Parliament with speculation suggesting it was diluting its opposition to the government by not attending the Congress-led dharna against suspension of its party MPs for the past three days. While other opposition parties including the Left had joined the protests, TMC has been conspicuously missing in action.

In an effort to dispel the impression gaining ground, leader of TMC in Lok Sabha, Sudip Bandopadhyay said on Thursday that it was he who spoke in the House condemning the suspension soon after it happened. And even though TMC had been in favour of discussions and debates, the party chose to boycott business at the cost of not being able to raise any of the important issues that impacted Bengal in the House, Bandopadhyay added. But he also told reporters that he had made it clear to Congress president Sonia Gandhi that TMC will not be able to participate in the dharna as they do not want to share the same frame with CPM, the party's main rival in the state. "I had spoken to our leader Mamata Banerjee who had asked us to join Congress in protesting against the undemocratic way in which the MPs were suspended, and also not to join the dharna as CPM is also there," he told reporters on Thursday while explaining the party's stand.

According to sources, TMC stood with the rest of the opposition parties at the business advisory committee meeting of the Rajya Sabha, to ensure that the government did not have its way. Opposition parties which met before the BAC had decided not to allow the government any extra hours of business than is already scheduled for the bill on SC/STs that the government was keen on.

With less than a year left for assembly elections in Bengal, the TMC chief cannot afford to be seen close to the BJP, but she would also like to extract from the Modi government as much as it can, to bring about some visible gains for the state that can go to her credit.