Mamata spoilt ties with neighbouring states, Bangladesh: Left

Accusing West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of creating bad blood with neighbouring states and countries, CPI-M leader Surjya Kanta Mishra Friday ridiculed her calls for a federal front, saying such a combine can come up only if the states were on good terms.

"The chief minister quarrels with everybody, be it our neighbouring country Bangladesh or neighbouring states. This is posing a danger to the stability and peace of our state," Mishra, the leader of opposition, said while speaking on the motion of thanks on Governor M.K. Narayanan's address to the assembly.

Mishra said while the chief minister banned potato imports outside the state which hit Odisha, she lashed out against Jharkhand over release of water from dams there.

The West Bengal Police threatened to send a taxi driver from Bihar back to his state for lodging a formal complaint with the cops after his daughter was raped twice by a gang and then allegedly burnt to death. The last incident forced Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to send his officers to the city to see the situation first hand, said Mishra.

"A federal front can be formed only when the states have good relations among them," Mishra said, referring to the call given by Banerjee for the coming together of regional parties towards forming the government at the centre after the approaching general elections.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist politburo member said Banerjee has picked up quarrels even with the judiciary and constitutional bodies like the West Bengal Human Rights Commission.

"Is there a need to quarrel with everyone?" he asked, contending the rainbow alliance cobbled together by Banerjee before the 2011 state assembly election has collapsed.

"She is now alienated from all her one-time allies. She is so lonely now. She has been putting up a brave face and claiming that her party would align with neither the Congress nor the Bharatiya Janata Party after the Lok Sabha polls. But she has not alternative other than joining one of these two parties," he said.

Attacking Banerjee for refusing to accompany Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Bangladesh in September 2011, over the proposed Teesta water sharing treaty, Mishra said that "she even said that Bangladesh was stealing water from the Teesta. I don't know how that is possible".

Banerjee had argued the interests of northern West Bengal would be hampered as the proposed pact envisaged giving a greater share of Teesta water to Bangladesh than had been agreed upon by the central and state governments. She had also claimed that the final draft was not shown to her.

Banerjee's decision embarrassed the Indian government, as the water sharing agreement could not be clinched during the trip.

"Her decision only encouraged the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami, which is opposed to friendly relations between Bangladesh and India or West Bengal.

"The Jamaat is opposed to resolution of the problems between India and Bangladesh. So it did not want her to go. The BJP also does not want good relations between the two countries. So both the Jamaat and the Sangh Parivar were encouraged due to her decision. But it has posed a danger for our state and the entire country," he said.