KOLKATA: Finding herself in a tight spot after the arrest of several ruling Trinamool Congress over their alleged involvement in the multi-crore Saradha chit fund scam, West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee is now trying to reach out to regional parties in the South.
As part of this, West Bengal Education Minister and TMC general secretary Partha Chatterjee on Monday left for Chennai as Mamata’s emissary to take part in the sit-in demonstration to be held on Tuesday by the Vaiko-led MDMK, to express solidarity with Vaiko’s demand to the Centre to reveal all the secret files related to Netaji Subash Chandra Bose.
Mamata’s aim is to unite the anti-BJP parties and form a common anti-saffron platform. She is also trying to communicate with Jayalalithaa, who is on bail at her Poes Garden residence. But due to conditions imposed by the court, the AIADMK leader has not received any visitors.
Chatterjee said that he was going to Chennai on his leader’s direction to express solidarity with the MDMK’s political programme, but clarified that he had no plans to meet Jayalalithaa. According to TMC sources, Chatterjee might meet Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Paneerselvan.
Netaji’s descendants are also divided on the issue of his “disappearance,” as two of them in the TMC, former MP Krishna Bose and his son Sugata Bose, Lok Sabha MP, hold the view that Netaji was killed in an air crash in Japan. They claim that the controversial urn containing the ashes at Renkoji temple in Japan belongs to Netaji. Sugata, a historian, agrees with the stand of the former Congress-led UPA Government that Netaji had in fact died in that air crash.
Mamata’s stand on the issue is not clear, but since Modi, during his campaign for the Lok Sabha elections had vowed to reveal secrets about Netaji, she wanted to support Vaiko’s demand. Her intention is to step up the campaign over Netaji and unite anti-BJP forces not only in the other states, but also in West Bengal before the state Assembly elections in 2016.