At the first press conference at International Centre at Dona Paula, the West Bengal Chief Minister spoke with conviction, especially issues connected to the BJP; Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah dodged the media over several critical questions regarding Goa, CMs face and her vision for Goa.
In her 40-odd minute press conference, she seemed more interested in serving food to the media persons than answering their queries.
Several journos were awed by her simplicity, but her talks made one believe she was on a mission to finish the national parties Congress and BJP.
SURAJ NANDREKAR
Editor, Goemkarponn
After the hype created by the Trinamool Congress and the protests and banners of Jair Shree Ram by Right-wing activists and groups, the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is finally here in Goa.
During his three-day stay, she will meet the local Trinamool leaders, politicians, and party leaders. She also visited a few temples in Goa and so also the fishing community in Mallim Jetty.
At the first press conference at International Centre at Dona Paula, the West Bengal Chief Minister spoke with conviction, especially issues connected to the BJP; Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah dodged the media over several critical questions regarding Goa, CMs face and her vision for Goa.
In her 40-odd minute press conference, she seemed more interested in serving food to the media persons than answering their queries.
Several journos were awed by her simplicity, but her talks made one believe she was on a mission to finish the national parties Congress and BJP.
She spoke about the BJP leaders showing her black flags and chanting Jai Shree Ram. She says she replied to them with Jail Bengal and Jai Goa. The cryptic reply, isn’t it?
However, her tone was aggressive, and it looked that the kind of politics she would play in Goa may have not been witnessed ever in the tiny State.
Of course, she spoke on employment, mining and secularism and blamed the BJP for dividing people in the name of religion.
She even said it was BJP that was fuelling violence in Bengal, and TMC was stopping it.
She also did not believe in I-PAC chief Prashant Kishor saying that BJP will stay for decades, saying, “it is his personal view. You ask him about this. He may have been misquoted. I feel we need to work hard to defeat BJP.”
She showed no interest in an alliance with any party but claimed she was ready to work with like-minded people.
As is the case with the local politicians, whenever a big leader comes down to Goa, many MLAs, including Rohan Khaunte, Churchill Alemao and Dhavalikar brothers, met Mamata Banerjee.
However, one believes she did not speak anything on alliance; all she said was she was ready to welcome any leader into the party.
“Alliances is something which is being talked about for a long time but has never worked,” she said, indirectly shunning the doors to the likes of Vijai Sardesai and Sudin Dhavalikar and Digambar Kamat.
She has already spoken to two regional parties; she is only ready to work with them if they merge into the TMC. So basically, the Goan leaders who came to meet her had to take a hasty retreat.
But one has to believe, unlike in 2007 and 2014, when her party lost miserably, she is in Goa this time with a plan to achieve something and prove something. However, with little time left, she has a lot of ground to cover to convince Goans that she is here to help and support them. Only time will tell if Prashant Kishor and Banerjee get the support of Goans.
