Mamata's decision to boycott the meeting is a sign of protest against the alleged violence by Left Front and Congress workers during the strike called by trade unions.
A day after clashes between the workers of Left parties and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) during 'Bharat bandh', West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said she will boycott the January 13 meeting of opposition parties convened by Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
Mamata's decision to boycott the meeting is a sign of protest against the alleged violence by Left Front and Congress workers during the strike called by trade unions.
"I have decided to boycott the meeting convened by Sonia Gandhi on January 13 in New Delhi as I don't support the violence that the Left and Congress unleashed in West Bengal yesterday," Banerjee said in the state Assembly on Thursday.
"Double standards" of the Left Front and Congress will not be tolerated, she said.
The meeting of opposition parties was called by Sonia Gandhi, who is also the UPA chairperson, to discuss the current situation of the country as protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC) continue across India.
The recent violence on various university campuses, including the attack on students by masked goons in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and alleged police brutality in Jamia Millia Islamia is also supposed to be discussed in the meeting of the opposition parties.
However, TMC's boycott has pierced the claim of opposition unity against the ruling BJP on the matter.
Several incidents of violence and arson were reported from the TMC-ruled West Bengal on Wednesday during the 24-hour nationwide strike by central trade unions.
Mamata had called the strike 'dadagiri'.
"CPIM has no ideology. Planting bombs on railway tracks is 'gundagardi'. In the name of a movement, commuters are being beaten up and stones are being pelted. This is 'dadagiri', not a movement. I condemn this," the chief minister had said.
"Bandhs called by them (Left parties) earlier were rejected. They want to get cheap publicity by calling bandh and hurling bombs on buses. Instead of gaining this publicity, political death is better," she had said.
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