Time has come to unite against BJP: Mamata Banerjee writes to Sonia Gandhi, other opposition leaders

The letter that was sent ahead of the second phase of the Bengal Assembly Elections, which will see a big fight in Nandigram between the state chief minister and her once-close aid-turned BJP candidate Suvendu Adhikari.

In her letter, Banerjee said the time has come for a "united and effective struggle against the BJP's attacks on democracy and the constitution" and "presenting a credible alternative to the people of India".

She pointed several instances of "assaults" on democracy starting with the controversial new law that gives more powers to Delhi's Lieutenant Governor, the Centre's representative, compared to the city's elected government.

"The BJP wants to make it impossible for non-BJP parties to exercise their constitutional rights and freedoms. It wants to dilute the powers of the state governments and downgrade them to mere municipalities. In short, it wants to establish a one-party authoritarian rule in India," she wrote.

"What the BJP has done in Delhi is not an exception. It is increasingly becoming the rule," she wrote, enumerating how the Centre is "creating problems for elected governments".

"I strongly believe that the time has come for a united and effective struggle against BJP's attacks on democracy and the constitution... As the chairperson of TMC, I shall work wholeheartedly with you and all other like-minded parties in this battle," Banerjee wrote.

Besides Sonia Gandhi, the letter was sent to Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, DMK's Stalin, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, YSR Congress chief Jagan Mohan Reddy, BJD chief Naveen Patnaik, Telangana Rashtra Samithi chief K Chandrashekar Rao, Samajwadi Party's Akhilesh Yadav, Rashtriya Janata Dal's Tejaswi Yadav, Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal and CPIML's Dipankar Bhattacharya.

Ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election, Banerjee had played a key role in forming a unified opposition to take on the BJP.