In a bid to consolidate the minority vote base in the State prior to the Assembly Elections in 2016, the Trinamool Congress is trying to reach out to the fringe minority outfits in Bengal.
It has been able to gain the support of Siddiqullah Chowdhury a prominent minority leader and is trying to rope in veteran MLA Abdur Rezzak Molla, who has been expelled by the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
Mr. Chowdhury, who is organising a rally on Thursday in Central Kolkata said that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee would be present at the rally venue.
“I have received official confirmation from the Trinamool leadership about the Chief Minister’s presence in our rally,” Mr. Chowdhury, a prominent leader of Jamiat-Ulama-e-Hind told The Hindu on Wednesday. He, however, said that the rally should not be taken as a platform for an “electoral alliance” with the Trinamool but is an “apolitical” initiative to unite the “secular forces” against the “rising intolerance” in the country. Interestingly, Mr. Chowdhury, had been one of the most vocal critics of Ms. Banerjee in the run-up to the last Lok Sabha elections. He is also the State president of the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), a political party with considerable presence in Assam.
The Trinamool has also approached expelled Molla, Former Minister of Land and Land Reforms in the previous Left Front government. He has floated his political outfit called the Bharatiya Nayabichar Party (BNP).
Political observers are of the opinion that the Trinamool’s effort to gain the support of minority outfits in the State indicates that the party is “unsure” of retaining the minority vote in the 2016 Assembly polls.
