Mamata Banerjee on Thursday attacked the BJP and the Congress in almost the same tone, accusing the party in power at the Centre of arresting Opposition leaders to win polls and blaming the top leadership of India's grand old party for visiting Bengal before elections like a seasonal bird.
Speaking at a public meeting in Nadia's Santipur, Mamata referred to the arrest of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Hemant Soren, who stepped down as the neighbouring state's chief minister, and said Opposition leaders were paying the price for fighting against the BJP.
Terming Soren's arrest as a blow to the country's federal character, she said that the BJP had engaged central investigating agencies to put rivals behind bars to win the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
"Keep in mind that they are (BJP) putting all behind the bars to win the election. They want to put us all in jail across the country. But even if they put me in jail, I shall come out.... Today they are in power... so they are moving everywhere with the agencies. But tomorrow they will be out of power and everything will disappear then," Mamata said, as she hit out at the Modi regime for using central investigating agencies against Opposition party leaders, including a few from the Trinamul.
Then, targeting the Congress role in Bengal, Mamata again said she would fight the Lok Sabha polls on her own and form a government at the Centre through a "post-poll coalition" with small regional parties.
Urging the people to make a clear choice between a "seasonal bird (read Congress)" and her party, Mamata asked: "Whom do you want to elect? The party that guards you for 365 days or the ones who like cuckoos come in autumn and flee once the season ends?"
Without making a direct reference, Mamata made it clear that she was not happy with the decision of the Congress and its leader Rahul Gandhi to make Bengal part of his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
"If you repose faith in me, be sure that Bengal will show the way to power in Delhi. We will fight here alone. We wanted an alliance. But Congress did not come up to respond. They made an understanding with the CPM to help the BJP for which I will make no compromise," Mamata said.
Trinamul insiders said that the Trinamul supremo wanted to state in unequivocal terms that there was hardly any scope for seat-sharing with the Congress in Bengal.
"Stay with me... I assure you of grabbing power in Delhi. But... how will we form the government will be decided jointly with all regional parties after the polls," Mamata said, adding she would not include the CPM in her post-poll plan.
"I am not interested in sharing a room with the party that tortured people in the state for 34 years, killed people, beheaded people, killed a young woman from the backward class like Tapasi Malik in Singur, unleashed violence in Nandigram.... I will only remain associated with truth and people," she said.
She also accused the BJP of unleashing financial torture on the poor people by freezing funds due to Bengal under various central schemes.
