Parliament Winter Session: TMC ‘disinterested’ in coordinating with Congress, likely to skip Opposition meet tomorrow

The TMC’s snub to the Congress came days after Kharge had said the grand old party would coordinate with all opposition camps, including the TMC, during the winter session.

Making evident the perception of strained ties with the Congress, the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress is said that it is “disinterested” in coordinating with the Grand Old Party during the upcoming winter session of Parliament. The TMC is also unlikely to attend the opposition parties’ meeting convened by Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge on November 29.

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The TMC’s snub to the Congress came days after Kharge, the leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha, had said the grand old party would coordinate with all opposition camps, including the TMC, during the winter session. Amid the strained relationship between the two, the TMC advised the Congress that it should have “proper internal coordination and set their own house in order”.

“We are disinterested in coordinating with the Congress during the winter session. Congress leaders should first coordinate among themselves. They should set their own house in order and then think about coordinating with other camps,” a senior TMC leader privy to the party’s decision told PTI on condition of anonymity.

Asked whether the TMC would coordinate with other opposition parties, he said, “We will raise several issues concerning the people’s interest and will coordinate with them. We most probably will not attend the opposition parties’ meeting convened by the Congress.”

Speaking about aversion to the Congress in the fight against the BJP, he said, “their leaders lack the determination to take on the saffron camp”.

The TMC will hold its national coordination committee meeting on November 29 at West Bengal Chief Minister and party supremo Mamata Banerjee’s residence here. The party will discuss various issues, including its strategy in the winter session of Parliament, the TMC leader said.

Banerjee, in July, was unanimously chosen as the chairperson of the TMC parliamentary party. TMC’s Rajya Sabha party leader Derek O’ Brien, while listing out the topics that the party would raise during the winter session, said the issues “self-select themselves”.

“The issues to be taken in the winter session of Parliament self-select themselves. For example, we will raise the issues of repealing farm laws, legislation to ensure MSP, extension of tenures of ED and CBI directors, BSF’s increased jurisdiction, weakening of the federal structure, fuel prices and bank privatisation,” he said.

The Trinamool Congress has been up in arms over the Congress’ alleged failure to fight against the BJP. Recently, it had termed the Congress as an “incapable and incompetent” party and asserted that Mamata Banerjee-led TMC can’t be blamed for their leaders jumping the ship.

Last month, the relationship between the two camps reached a new low after Banerjee’s party took a dig at Rahul Gandhi’s defeat at Amethi in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, wondering whether the Congress would erase it through a Twitter trend. The ties between the Congress and the TMC got strained recently after the latter’s mouthpiece ‘Jago Bangla’ claimed that Banerjee, and not Rahul Gandhi, has emerged as the face of the opposition against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.