BJP extends support to Panja

kolkata: west bengal bjp leader and union minister tapan sikdar on friday said that the bjp will lend its weight to ajit panja during his martyr's day rally on july 21. "state bjp vice-president muzaffar khan and general secretary pratap banerjee will be present during the rally at chinsurah," sikdar said. local bjp leaders and workers will also join panja.speaking to newsmen in kolkata on friday, sikdar said that unprecedented hype has been created around this year's rally and this was largely because of the panja factor. he said that the bjp was not joining mamata's celebrations because she was not a part of the nda. on the question of mamata banerjee's return to the nda, sikdar said that there was a perceptible change of attitude within the nda on this question. "earlier, nda leaders were eager to have her in the alliance. leaders of all stature went out of their way to appease the trinamul leader. the situation is very different now," sikdar pointed out. he went on to say that mamata banerjee, through her emissaries, is now going all out to appease nda leaders and "even falling at their feet". "on behalf of the state commitee, we have told the bjp high command that her return to the nda can only be conditional," sikdar said. moreover, the trinamul has to apply for readmission and abide by all the nda norms, sikdar said. sikdar said that the prime minister had so long put up with the trinamul supremo's tantrums because he was experimenting with a coalition government. with his government firmly in the saddle, the pm no longer has such compulsions, especially after what mamata deserted the nda, sikdar pointed out. on friday, the state unit of the rashtriya janata dal, led by vijay pratap singh and phani guha joined the bjp in presence of sikdar and other state leaders.