Mamata Banerjee urges opposition parties to form 'joint platform' against BJP

Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Saturday appealed to all opposition parties in West Bengal to come together to form a joint platform to fight the BJP, which came to power in the state after the recently held assembly elections.

Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Saturday appealed to all opposition parties in West Bengal to come together to form a ''joint platform'' to fight the BJP, which came to power in the state after the recently held assembly elections.

The former chief minister also called upon the student unions of various affiliations opposed to the BJP and the NGOs to unite against the saffron camp. ''I call upon all opposition parties, including the Leftists and the ultra-Left, to come together to form a joint platform against the BJP,'' Banerjee said, also calling upon national parties to join. The TMC chief said that she will talk with any political party if they want to hold a dialogue with her in this regard. ''It is not the time to think the enemy's enemy is my friend, our first enemy is the BJP,'' she said, while addressing a small gathering in front of her Kalighat residence on Rabindranath Tagore's birth anniversary.

She claimed that atrocities were being committed against TMC workers and supporters across the state following the declaration of the assembly election results. Banerjee said, ''Hooliganism is going on at places, bad elements have entered their (BJP) ranks.'' The former CM claimed that she did not allow atrocities against anyone after coming to power in 2011. The BJP stormed into power in West Bengal, winning 207 seats in the 294-member assembly to form its first government in the state, while the TMC secured 80 seats.