Mamata Banerjee meets Opposition leaders in Delhi, including Rahul, Sonia Gandhi; invites them to 'federal front' Kolkata rally

Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee met Congress president Rahul Gandhi and senior party leader Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday to discuss the National Register of Citizens (NRC) of Assam and the possibility of Opposition parties fighting the 2019 Lok Sabha elections together against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Speaking to reporters after the meeting in New Delhi, Mamata criticised the BJP for the lakhs of names excluded from the Assam NRC. She said: “My concern is that the over 40 lakh people missing from the list belong to other states in the country. What does the BJP want? Peace or civil war? Some people have been living there (in Assam) for generations. How has this happened to our genuine voters?” The final draft of the NRC was published in Assam with 2.9 crore names on Monday. After the list was released, the BJP had said there should be a similar effort to “ identify illegal migrants from Bangladesh in West Bengal ”. [caption id=“attachment_4870801” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee met Congress president Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia at their New Delhi residence on Wednesday. Twitter@INCIndia[/caption] Mamata claimed that the BJP was “politically nervous” and “tensed” because it knows it won’t be coming to power in 2019. She said: “If they only make statements with abuses, we won’t respond in their tone. It is in our culture to respond peacefully. Our aim is to oust the BJP. All parties that want this will come together… Rabindranath Tagore wrote a song about everybody being there for everybody. What is wrong with us following that?” The West Bengal chief minister said the meeting with Rahul and Sonia focussed on ousting the BJP at the Centre, and that no state was discussed in particular. She added that her first priority was to bring all Opposition parties together to take on the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections. Besides the Congress leaders, the TMC chief, who has been trying to consolidate Opposition unity ahead of the 2019 polls, spent the second day of her trip to Delhi meeting leaders of various other parties, including leaders from the Telugu Desam Party, the Yuvajana Shramika Rythu Congress (YSR Congress), Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Samajwadi Party and Janata Dal (Secular). She invited them to her “federal front” rally on 19 January in Kolkata . Surprisingly, Mamata also met veteran BJP leader LK Advani at his chamber, stating that her relations with him went back many years. “I went to meet him and inquire about his health,” she said.   Before meeting Sonia and Rahul, the TMC chief told reporters that she was not vying for the post of prime minister, and that the candidate for the top post would be chosen collectively by all Opposition parties. “I am not for any post. I am interested in seeing that all parties work together. All political parties will sit together and decide (the prime ministerial candidate),” she said. The TMC office in Parliament was abuzz after Mamata arrived there on Wednesday, and Opposition leaders made a beeline to meet her. She also spoke to senior Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ahmed Patel and also met JD(S) chief Deve Gowda and invited them to the rally. Interestingly, Mamata has also extended an invitation to Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray through party leader Sanjay Raut. Although a constituent of the National Democratic Alliance, the Sena has been openly critical of the Narendra Modi government. Suspended BJP MP Kirti Azad praised her as a great leader and said that her efforts to consolidate all Opposition parties are “commendable”. In addition to inviting Opposition leaders to her rally on the “federal front”, the West Bengal chief minister has appealed to the Opposition to send delegations to Assam to pressure the government. A delegation of TMC leaders is scheduled to visit Assam on Thursday. With inputs from PTI