West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said her party, the Trinamool Congress, will strongly oppose the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill that proposes to bifurcate the state into two union territories.
Ms Banerjee also said the Centre should have consulted all political parties before coming to a decision to scrap Constitutional provisions that accorded special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
The chief minister was talking to reporters at Kolkata's Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport before heading to Chennai, to unveil a statue of DMK leader and former chief minister M Karunanidhi. "The government could have taken the decision after consulting all the political parties and Kashmiris. There was no vote or discussion on the Kashmir issue. This is not democratic. We will oppose it tooth and nail," Ms Banerjee said.