Itahar: Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday warned that Darjeeling cannot be allowed to go the Andhra Pradesh way, asserting till she was alive she would not give an inch of land away.
Attacking the BJP and the Congress for the "game" they played on the Andhra Pradesh bifurcation issue, Banerjee said this time they would not succeed.
"Till I am alive, I will not give an inch of land this way. In the interest of politics, the land cannnot be ceded this way. If you think that you will play the same game as you did in Andhra Pradesh, you will not succeed," she told an election meeting here.
Banerjee's outburst followed BJP vice-president and nominee for the Darjeeling LS seat S S Ahluwalia's support for the formation of a separate state of Gorkhaland.
Ahluwalia today told reporters in Darjeeling, "The BJP has always supported creation of smaller states as Jharkhand and Chattisgarh and was in favour of Telangana and so Gorkhaland should also be formed."
Banerjee accused the Congress and the BJP of making an understanding over the Telengana bill and said that any attempt to divide Bengal would not be allowed.
It depended on the state government whether a state would be bifurcated or not and that is only after consulting the state government on the issue, she pointed out.
Accusing the BJP of pursuing "communal and divisive" politics and the Congress "anti-people policies", she said that there was a need for a change in the government.
"There is a politics to make money and corruption and there is a politics to divide the people on communal lines," she told the rally.
"There are no differences between the Congress and the BJP. The BJP only attacks the UPA government when elections are round the corner," she said wondering what the saffron party was doing when her party was up in arms against the Congress-led UPA government over the issue of price rise and other issues.
She defended her parting of ways with the NDA on communal issues and walking out of an alliance with UPA in 2012 over the FDI in retail.
Banerjee who had stormed out of the NDA after the Tehelka expose in 2001, said, "We (Trinamool Congress) were in NDA for one year. We left it when we saw that in different ways attempts were made to communalise society."
Claiming that the Trinamool Congress was the only party which followed ideals, she said, "We never maintain double standard. What we say we do. And what we do we do it direct. We maintain transparency."
She also defended quiting the UPA, saying she did it in 2012 over the issues of retail in FDI, rise in the prices of diesel, petrol and lowering of the cap of subsidised LPG cylinders.
Claiming that the BJP won't get a single seat out of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal, Banerjee said the party would try to divide the voters on communal lines in a bid to split the TMC votes to benefit the CPI(M) and the Congress.
She expressed confidence that the Trinamool Congress would emerge as the third largest party after the election and that "TMC will play the most important role in the formation of the government".
PTI
Attacking the BJP and the Congress for the "game" they played on the Andhra Pradesh bifurcation issue, Banerjee said this time they would not succeed.
"Till I am alive, I will not give an inch of land this way. In the interest of politics, the land cannnot be ceded this way. If you think that you will play the same game as you did in Andhra Pradesh, you will not succeed," she told an election meeting here.
Banerjee's outburst followed BJP vice-president and nominee for the Darjeeling LS seat S S Ahluwalia's support for the formation of a separate state of Gorkhaland.
Ahluwalia today told reporters in Darjeeling, "The BJP has always supported creation of smaller states as Jharkhand and Chattisgarh and was in favour of Telangana and so Gorkhaland should also be formed."
Banerjee accused the Congress and the BJP of making an understanding over the Telengana bill and said that any attempt to divide Bengal would not be allowed.
It depended on the state government whether a state would be bifurcated or not and that is only after consulting the state government on the issue, she pointed out.
Accusing the BJP of pursuing "communal and divisive" politics and the Congress "anti-people policies", she said that there was a need for a change in the government.
"There is a politics to make money and corruption and there is a politics to divide the people on communal lines," she told the rally.
"There are no differences between the Congress and the BJP. The BJP only attacks the UPA government when elections are round the corner," she said wondering what the saffron party was doing when her party was up in arms against the Congress-led UPA government over the issue of price rise and other issues.
She defended her parting of ways with the NDA on communal issues and walking out of an alliance with UPA in 2012 over the FDI in retail.
Banerjee who had stormed out of the NDA after the Tehelka expose in 2001, said, "We (Trinamool Congress) were in NDA for one year. We left it when we saw that in different ways attempts were made to communalise society."
Claiming that the Trinamool Congress was the only party which followed ideals, she said, "We never maintain double standard. What we say we do. And what we do we do it direct. We maintain transparency."
She also defended quiting the UPA, saying she did it in 2012 over the issues of retail in FDI, rise in the prices of diesel, petrol and lowering of the cap of subsidised LPG cylinders.
Claiming that the BJP won't get a single seat out of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal, Banerjee said the party would try to divide the voters on communal lines in a bid to split the TMC votes to benefit the CPI(M) and the Congress.
She expressed confidence that the Trinamool Congress would emerge as the third largest party after the election and that "TMC will play the most important role in the formation of the government".
PTI