Kapil Sibal castigates Mamata Banerjee as TMC leader calls for new UPA bloc sans Congress

After West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee made a big statement that 'there is no UPA now', senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Thursday has responded that without Congress, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) will be a 'body without a soul'. The former union minister opposed Banerjee's remarks on the grand old party and has also called for unity among the opposition. His remarks come after the Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo's statement on Wednesday in Mumbai following her meeting with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar.

'There's no UPA anymore': West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee 

The TMC chief briefed the media with Sharad Pawar after their meeting on Wednesday. Banerjee has called for a strong alternative and an opposition to fight the ruling Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP). She asserted that no political party can fight against a BJP alone and has therefore urged the 'parties that can fight' to come together. Taking a subtle dig at the Congress party, Mamata Banerjee remarked that 'for those parties who can't fight' nothing can be done. Banerjee was asked if the UPA under Sharad Pawar will be an alternative force. Responding to this she stated 'What is UPA, there's no UPA anymore'.

'Mamata Banerjee wants to weaken Congress' alleges Congress 

Apart from Kapil Sibal, Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Wednesday hit out at Mamata Banerjee and alleged that she wants to weaken the grand old party. Chowdhury also added that NCP chief Sharad Pawar was being dragged into the matter. Moreover, the Congress leader also claimed that this was a "conspiracy of Mamata Banerjee to defame Sharad Pawar". In addition, he reiterated that Banerjee is benefitting the BJP. 

"BJP has lost its ground but Mamata has decided to supply oxygen," said Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury

He had made a similar statement in October and claimed that the West Bengal CM was the 'middleman' of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

"Mamata Banerjee is helping BJP by opposing Congress. Looks like they had an agreement that 'Delhi yours, Kolkata ours' otherwise she wouldn't have spoken useless things about Congress," Chowdhury had said