General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Sitaram Yechury and Congress State President Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury during Left-Congress and Indian Secular Front (ISF) joint rally, ahead of West Bengal assembly polls, in Kolkata on February 28, 2021. (PTI Photo)
Kolkata, February 28 (PTI): CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Sunday said that the Trinamool Congress has to be defeated first to stop the communal bandwagon of the RSS-BJP, and claimed that the TMC might rejoin the NDA to form the government in West Bengal in case of a hung assembly.
Terming the ongoing political tussle between the TMC and the BJP as a "mock fight", Yechury alleged that the saffron party is using money from the PM CARES fund, set up to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, to "buy" leaders during the time of elections.
"This grand alliance of the Left and the secular forces will fight to defeat the corrupt TMC government and the BJP in the state, will fight for a better Bengal," Yechury said while addressing a joint rally at the Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata ahead of the assembly election in West Bengal.
The CPI (M) leader alleged that the Mamata Banerjee administration is doing the same to youths what the Narendra Modi government is doing against the farmers.
"Many people ask me what we would do in case of a hung assembly. I tell them to direct their question to the TMC as they are in the best position to answer it.
"The TMC has been part of NDA (for several years) since 1998. It was part of the NDA government (at the Centre).
In case of a hung assembly, I am confident that the TMC would join hands with the BJP to form the state's government," he said.
"All the secular forces have to fight together to defeat the TMC and the BJP in Bengal. Once we stop this communal juggernaut in Bengal, we will stop it in the country also," Yechury said.
He claimed that the BJP and the TMC are using religion to divert attention from the problems being faced by the people of the country and the state.
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