Sena lends support to Mamata; Cong says it hasn’t faced ‘TMC’s terror’

In a boost of morale for the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday said that his party would not fight the assembly polls and instead lend support to the TMC, which it finds better than the Left parties or Congress.

The Sena’s support came after, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Samajwadi Party (SP) extended their support to TMC chief Mamata Banerjee for the polls.

“A lot of people are curious to know whether Shiv Sena is contesting West Bengal polls or not? So here’s the update after discussions with party president Uddhav ji Thackeray,” Sena leader Sanjay Raut said in a tweet on Thursday.

“All ‘Ms’ – Money, Muscle and Media – are being used against Mamata Didi. Hence, Shiv Sena has decided not to contest West Bengal polls and stand in solidarity with her,” he added.

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The Congress which is part of the alliance with the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra said decisions taken by regional parties is based on their perception and that they have not faced the atrocities of the TMC in Bengal.

“There are different perceptions. Parties like ours in Bengal are the victims of the atrocities and terror perpetrated by TMC. Our pain is different. It is difficult for parties like ours to survive in Bengal given the kind of terror the TMC has unleashed,” Congress’s West Bengal president and leader of party in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury told Indian Express.

The Congress has entered into an alliance with the Left Front and Indian Secular Front led by Muslim leader Abbas Siddiqui, for the Bengal polls.

Chowdhury said he wouldn’t blame parties like Sena, RJD and SP for backing the TMC as the “threat of BJP” for them is real.

“For us in Bengal, we are facing the threats of both – TMC’s dictatorship, and BJP’s communalism. Sixty people were killed on the day panchayat elections were held…In around 20,000 seats they won unopposed…if such a situation arose in UP, Bihar or Maharashtra…they would know,” Choudhury said.