West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said she will boycott the opposition meeting convened by Congress president Sonia Gandhi on January 13 to protest the violence unleashed in the state allegedly by Left Front and Congress workers during a trade union strike.
The 24-hour nationwide strike by central trade unions in West Bengal on Wednesday was marked by incidents of violence and arson, blocking of railway tracks and roads by protestors trying to enforce the shutdown.
Banerjee said "double standards" of the Left Front and Congress will not be tolerated. "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 (Wednesday)," the chief minister said at the state Assembly.
Sonia Gandhi has called a meeting of opposition parties, including the Left, to discuss the situation arising out of violence on various university campuses and protests in the country over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019.
Meanwhile, in another development, the Supreme Court on Thursday refused to entertain an urgent plea seeking to direct CAA as constitutional. The court said that the it is there to determine the validity of the law and not to declare it as constitutional. The Apex court also said that the country is going through critical times, therefore, efforts should be made to maintain peace.
(With inputs from PTI)
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