On the second consecutive day of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's dharna against Centre, DMK Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi met her in Kolkata and offered support. Speaking to the media, Kani said, "I would say that this episode was Modiji's pre-election gift to Mamata Banerjee as the BJP has realised after January 19 rally that they won't return to power after Lok Sabha polls."
She said all the opposition parties should work towards staying united and work towards ensuring that BJP's dream of returning to power doesn't get fulfilled. She added that the BJP and the RSS "believe in divisive politics and in order to oust BJP, we should work together". Earlier, Kanimozhi tweeted: "Anyone who cares for Democracy, Federalism and Constitution must stand with Ms @MamataOfficial. "
Her brother and party president M K Stalin said: "The independence of every institution has been compromised under this fascist BJP Government. I stand with @MamataOfficial Didi in her fight to protect the federal structure of this country and to save democracy.#SaveDemocracy." Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi supremo Thirumalavan said the BJP government is involved in vendetta politics.
Speaking in Lok Sabha, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said, "The CBI team went only after Supreme Court order. The Police Commissioner was summoned many times but he did not appear. I have spoken to Governor so that the CBI team is given protection and the West Bengal government should also help co-operate. CRPF teams had to reach yesterday because of the overpowering of the CBI team by police.
This is constitutional as we have proceeded only with top court order. There may be a constitutional breakdown in West Bengal. The Kolkata Police-CBI face-off was unfortunate and stopping CBI from performing duty was unprecedented."
