Tension between TMC, BJP escalates, Mamata Banerjee-led party to boycott all-party meet on 16 July

New Delhi: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Monday said it will boycott the all-party meeting called by the parliamentary affairs minister on 16 July on the eve of the Monsoon session of Parliament. However, the party will send its representative to a meeting of leaders of all political parties called by Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan the same evening. The boycott decision comes amidst the recriminations between the TMC and the BJP over the recent violence in West Bengal which is ruled by the former. [caption id=“attachment_3445222” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] “The TMC has decided to boycott the all-party meeting,” party leader and Rajya Sabha member Derek O’Brien said on Monday about the customary meeting that the parliamentary affairs minister calls on the eve of a Parliament session. Such a meeting is traditionally held to discuss how that particular session could be run smoothly and the prime minister also joins it. At the same time, TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee will attend the meeting called by Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan in the evening of 16 July, O’Brien added. The Mamata Banerjee-led party, along with the Congress and the Left parties, had earlier boycotted the midnight event organised by the government in Parliament on 30 June for rollout of the GST. On Tuesday, the TMC will attend a meeting of 17 opposition parties, including the Congress and the Left, in New Delhi to finalise the candidate for the 5 August vice-presidential election. During that meeting, “We will raise four-five issues,” said O’Brien. The issues the party is likely to raise are related to demonetisation, the effect of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) rollout, farmers’ suicide and “the members of the ruling party attempting to incite communal passion and destroy the federal structure of the country”, he added.