Kolkata, June 15: At a time when West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is busy holding meeting with the opposition leaders in the national capital to prepare a blueprint for fielding a joint opposition candidate for the Presidential poll, top BJP leaders in Bengal ridiculed the meet as yet another failed attempt by the Trinamool Congress supremo to project herself as a national leader.
Speaking to media-persons inside the Assembly premises here on Wednesday, leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari said that in the last 10 years, the Chief Minister has made several failed attempts to project herself as a national leader.
“Every time she fails, and this time also she will fail. The Presidential candidate of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will get elected by a higher margin than last time,” Adhikari said.
According to Adhikari, many leaders whom Banerjee invited for the meeting knew how fruitless the exercise is.
“The Chief Ministers of Telangana, Odisha and Delhi have decided to abstain from the meeting. The Congress has deputed some of its ‘clerks’ to attend the meeting. This attempt to unite the opposition would result in a big zero,” Adhikari said.
He also reminded that in the recent past, Trinamool’s attempts to make inroads in Goa and Tripura also ended in a big zero for the party.
BJP Lok Sabha member and actress-turned politician Locket Chatterjee also termed the meeting convened by Banerjee as a futile attempt on her part to project herself as the kingmaker ahead the Presidential poll.
“She might keep on trying, but she will never succeed,” Chatterjee said.
State minister and Trinamool Congress Secretary General Partha Chatterjee said that Suvendu Adhikari says a lot of things from time to time which should not be given any importance.
