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    Dangerous trend being set by BJP: TMC on Maharashtra crisis

    Synopsis

    ​“A very bad trend was set by the BJP since they came to power in 2014. There was a time when the central government used to dissolve the state assemblies, particularly in opposition ruled states. Now the trend is to manoeuvre the MLAs of the ruling party and try to set up a government of their choice,” Trinamool national spokesperson Sukhendu Sekhar Ray said.

    Untitled-7Agencies
    Sukhendu Sekhar Ray
    Kolkata: Amid the political turmoil in Maharashtra, the Trinamool Congress leadership in Bengal said the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) manoeuvring the MLAs in Maharashtra to “capture” opposition ruled states and is putting democracy at stake. Calling for united resistance by the opposition on the issue, Trinamool national spokesperson Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, in an exclusive interaction with ET, said it was a dangerous trend set by the BJP.

    "It is a dangerous trend set by the BJP to invade in the opposition-ruled states where it was not acceptable and chosen by people," Trinamool national spokesperson Sukhendu Sekhar Roy said, calling for a united resistance by the opposition on the issue.

    “A very bad trend was set by the BJP since they came to power in 2014. There was a time when the central government used to dissolve the state assemblies, particularly in opposition ruled states. Now the trend is to manoeuvre the MLAs of the ruling party and try to set up a government of their choice.”

    “A chief minister may be selected from their party in Maharashtra or they can opt for a CM from other parties and settle for a deputy chief minister. But, the BJP will invade states where they were not accepted by the people and succeed in the assembly elections despite their success in Lok Sabha,” Ray told ET.

    Slamming the ruling BJP government at the Centre, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee recently said BJP was bulldozing democracy by toppling the Maharashtra government ruled by Uddhav Thackeray. "The ruling party at the Centre is purchasing the MLAs. It is shocking to see such a thing," she said.

    "BJP’s so-called slogan of the double engine government implies the existence of a single party, both at the Centre and the state, thus aiming towards one party rule in the country, which is, in a way, the negation of democracy. By hook or crook, they want to capture power in opposition ruled states where they could not win over the confidence of the people. They are trying to manipulate and manoeuvre the MLAs. Maharashtra is a glaring example. It happened in the recent past in Karnataka and North Eastern States as well," Ray said.

    The Trinamool leadership believes that it is a dangerous trend in democracy even as the MLAs of Maharashtra have succumbed to horse trading by the BJP, "the way MLAs were flown from Maharashtra to Surat and then to Guwahati in chartered flight. More than one crore has been spent for the chartered flight in addition to other costs of putting them up in five-star hotels etc. There is no hide & seek on the whole the issue of purchasing the MLAs," Ray said.


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