Mamata, Kejriwal To Discuss Cooperation

[donganaaK]

NEW DELHI: In keeping with the new-found opposition unity, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and her Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal are expected to exchange notes in April. 

Banerjee's Trinamool Congress and Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are new allies who have converged on various issues in Parliament, especially on the land acquisition bill where the opposition parties took on the Narendra Modi government and walked in protest from Parliament to Rashtrapati Bhavan. 

While the date and venue of the interaction has not yet been finalised, both leaders have agreed to discuss various issues. "It is not certain whether they will meet, so it could also be a discussion either through video conference or over phone," TMC spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien said. He confirmed that the interaction will take place next month. 

While Banerjee's interest seems to be in aligning with anti-BJP forces, Kejriwal could gain from the TMC chief's long political experience. 

In fact, Banerjee has decided against continuing with her efforts to have TMC presence in Delhi after Kejriwal's success in the national capital. Instead, she plans to lend her party's moral support to AAP. Even during the Delhi elections Banerjee had declared her party's support to Kejriwal and his party. 

It has been decided that outside of West Bengal TMC will concentrate only on four states - Tripura, Manipur, Assam and Kerala, O'Brien said. Interestingly, in two of the four states, Tripura and Kerala, the CPM and other Left parties are the main political contenders. Apart from Kerala, the Bangla language is either spoken or understood in the three other states and the TMC leadership feels it will be easier to connect with people there. 

Meanwhile, the opposition parties have decided to ensure that they keep together even in the next half of the budget session. The first half of the budget session saw the opposition marching against the land bill and also getting an amendment accepted by the government to the motion of thanks to the President's address. 

"We will keep in touch during the recess. At least the six parties - Congress, TMC, JD(U), SP, BSP and DMK - have decided this," O'Brien said. While opposition unity was most visible in Rajya Sabha, a grouping is also happening in Lok Sabha and AAP is also part of it as the new party has four MPs in the lower House.

[donganaaK]

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