Cong, BJP netas share dais; party doesn’t approve, says Adhir

Kolkata: Bengal Congress president Adhir Chowdhury on Sunday made it clear that he did not approve of party leaders sharing a dais with BJP. His statements came after Congress leaders joined BJP at a protest by a section of state government employees on dearness allowance. Those who attended said they were “unaware” who invitees to the dais were. TMC has earlier referred to a BJP-Congress “understanding”.“Congress doesn’t approve of sharing a dais with BJP. We will take steps if any leader shares the dais with BJP for any reason. If anyone does so, they should mention that it is their personal agenda as the party is not in its favour,” Chowdhury said. The Congress leader said he, as the state chief, did not permit anyone from the party to share a platform with BJP. “We endorse the DA issue and support the cause. But we cannot be together with BJP. TMC is BJP’s ally and just because someone has shared a dais with a BJP leader doesn’t mean that Congress is in touch with the saffron camp.” Congress leader Kaustav Bagchi said leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari got on the platform while he was delivering his speech. “I know my party’s stand and I immediately left after Suvendu Adhikari entered. But the DA issue is important, which is why I was there,” he said. Veteran Congress leader Abdul Manan said: “This was not a political meeting. The platform has been inviting political leaders to espouse their cause further, and to press for their demands. This we did. It was not possible to know which political leaders were invited. Even in the past, several such platforms have witnessed leaders of multiple parties attending. This has no bearing on other issues.” Trinamool leader Abhishek Banerjee has alleged Co-ngress and CPM are only interested in projecting CM Mamata Banerjee in a bad light. At a meeting in Raninagar on Saturday, he said the parties “did not utter a single word” against BJP and its “discrimination” against Bengal.