Nothing wrong to increase own support base, but Mamata Banerjee shouldn't weaken Opposition: RJD's Manoj Jha

Underlining the need for a concerted fight against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha on Tuesday said that the opposition unity is being weakened due to the efforts of West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee.

A high-level meeting of opposition leaders with Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi was held at 10 Janpath late on Tuesday evening.

Leaders like Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut, CPIM general secretary Sitaram Yechury and DMK's TR Baalu attended the meeting.

Notably, RJD, a close ally of Congress, was not invited to the meeting.

Asked about being not invited to the meeting, RJD leader Manoj Jha told ANI, "Opposition unity will have to go beyond individual-based politics and move towards issue-based politics, then only the trust among the people will develop."

Regarding the absence of TMC in the meeting, Jha said, "The opposition unity is being weakened due to the efforts of Mamata Banerjee. She should take care of this. It is not wrong to increase your own support base, but Mamata Banerjee should not weaken the Opposition. The opposition parties should remember that our fight is against the BJP which has the expertise to win elections."

Addressing a public meeting in Goa on Tuesday, Mamata Banerjee has said that she belongs to a brahmin family.

Reacting to this, Manoj Jha said, "It is a victory of BJP's ideology. Mamata Banerjee is not able to raise the issue related to the people."

Congress and TMC are at loggerheads as a steady stream of leaders joining TMC's ranks after quitting from Congress in the last few months.

On Monday, NCP leader and former Goa chief minister Churchill Alemao joined TMC. Alemao was the lone NCP MLA in Goa Assembly.

( With inputs from ANI )

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