NEW DELHI: With TMC annoucing to skip the Opposition party meeting scheduled at the start of winter session on Monday, the Mamata Banerjee led party is looking to forge a non-Congress partners opposition alliance parallelly in both the houses to take on the BJP-led Centre in the parliament.
The TMC, which is the second largest party in terms of MPs having 13 in Rajya Sabha and sharing fourth place with YSRCP with 22 MPs in Lok Sabha, has made it clear that it would no more tread on the lines of the floor strategy by the Congress.
Sources, said that the TMC leadership has asked the party floor leaders - Derek O'Brien in Rajya Sabha and Sudip Bandopadhyay in Lok Sabha - to look for coordinating with parties that are not in alliance with the Congress but are ready to take on the Modi government.
"The TMC is ready to work with all the opposition and regional parties unlike the Congress that has issues aligning with Jagan Mohan Reddy's YSRCP or Arvind Kejriwal's AAP for that sake. We will reach out to all the like minded parties whether it is Samajwadi Party or BJD for a stronger opposition front. Nobody is untouchable for us," said a TMC MP.
The party feels that unlike other Opposition parties Shiv Sena, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, DMK, Left parties, NCP and RJD that are in the alliance either in the government or have contested elections together, the TMC has no such boundations.
“Yes there will be Opposition unity in Parliament. It is the common issues that will unite the opposition. I also must point out that there is a distinction between the RJD, DMK, RJD and the CPI(M)— they are all electoral allies of the Congress. The NCP-Shiv Sena and JMM run a government with the Congress. The Congress is not our electoral ally nor are we running a government with them. That’s the difference,“ said O’Brien, TMC parliamentary party leader in Rajya Sabha
The monsoon session of parlaiment saw camaraderie between the 14 opposition parties -- Congress, DMK, TMC, Samajwadi Party, CPI-M, CPI, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Shiv Sena, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), AAP, IUML, RSP, KCM and JMM -- putting up a joint front on common issues to take on the government. There were repeated disruptions during the monsoon session with the opposition raising several issues.
"These are individual decision of political parties based on their strategy and goals. Congress is the principle opposition parties the country and would work take all parties together in our fight against the anti-people policies of this government," said a senior Congress leader.