Accusing TMC of trying to destroy the democratic system in West Bengal, Leader of Opposition Abdul Mannan today said the Congress legislature party has decided to meet President Pranab Mukherjee and apprise him about the ground situation in the state.
"The TMC has let loose a fascist rule in the state. They are poaching on Opposition MLAs by either using money power or muscle power. On Nov 4 we have decided to meet the President and apprise him about the ground situation in the state," Mannan told reporters.
"We have informed the Governor about the ground situation. We will inform the President also. I want tell all those Congress MLAs who have switched over to TMC, that they should have the guts to resign and go for by-election. They can't escape. They will have to face the masses," he said.
Plagued by defections and a weak organisation, Congress is staring at a "political extinction" in West Bengal, even as CPI(M) claims that "such poachings have never happened before" in the state.
The two opposition parties have come down heavily on the ruling TMC for "poaching into the opposition turf and taking away its legislators".
After the last Assembly elections which gave a thumping majority to the Trinamool Congress, the party managed to take over almost all the opposition-controlled municipalities and panchayats in the state, with councillors and panchayat members shifting to the TMC-fold from either Congress or Left Front constituents.
Since May 2016, five MLAs of Congress, including former party's state chief Manas Bhunia and one from CPI(M) have switched over to TMC, bringing down the opposition tally from 76 to 70 in the 294-member House.
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