Nanoor, Sept. 19: Mamata Banerjee today parroted the cuckoo, returning to a theme that added an edge to Rahul Gandhi’s tour of Bengal and betrayed the Trinamul Congress’s apprehensions over the foray.

“There are people who come like a koel (cuckoo) before an election and disappear after chirping ‘kuhu kuhu’ once the spring is over. But I am unlike them because I have been consistent in my anti-CPM movement,” Mamata said at a rally in Birbhum’s Nanoor.

On September 13, the eve of the Congress leader’s three-day trip to Bengal as part of an Youth Congress membership drive, Mamata had said she was not like the proverbial koel, a comment seen as a veiled reference to Rahul.

No spring chicken in politics, Mamata understands the need to protect her turf before next year’s Assembly polls, faced with a rejuvenated Congress after Rahul’s visit.

At the rally today, Mamata also condemned the killing of 11 farmers owing allegiance to her party allegedly by the CPM a decade ago in Nanoor.

But her newfound refrain on the cuckoo seems to be dominating the political mindspace, ironically lending potency to Rahul’s thrust in Bengal for what he termed “self-respect and dignity”.

A Trinamul leader who was present at the rally said the party was not treating Rahul’s repeated assertions that the Congress would not sacrifice its self-respect to keep the alliance with Trinamul like water off a duck’s back.

“We don’t know who Mamatadi had in her mind when she referred to the koel. But we don’t like the way in which Rahulji has been harping on self-respect. Did he mean that self-respect has been lacking so far in the context of the alliance? His statement has not gone down well with our party,” he said.

Rahul had defused questions if Mamata had referred to him while mentioning the cuckoo with a jovial “do I look like a bird?” chirp. Asked about the reaction, the Trinamul leader who was present at the rally said: “Rahulji said what he understood from Mamatadi’s statement but we know what is what.”

Whether Mamata meant Rahul or not, her supporters appear to harbour no doubt. “It is true that Delhi Congress leaders such as Rahul saheb come to us once in a blue moon. But Mamata is always with us, in rain or shine,” said Sheikh Kitab Ali, 70, a farmer who attended today’s rally.

That the Congress MP’s visit had ruffled the Trinamul’s feathers was evident from the way the Bengal party lined up programmes, some of which ran parallel to the events addressed by Rahul.

Mamata today led a 5km padayatra from Mangalkot to Nanoor before addressing the rally. Apart from singing what she feels is the CPM’s swan song, Mamata also asked the participants to counter the Left’s “reign of terror”.

“Only two-and-a-half months are left before the Election Commission begins its preparatory work for the Assembly polls. The CPM will try its best to unleash more atrocities across Bengal. When they will take up guns to establish its misrule, we will take people with us to counter them. In a democracy, people say the last word, not the bullet,” she said.

Iterating her demand for withdrawal of the joint forces, Mamata said she would organise similar processions in several parts of Bengal, including Jungle Mahal.

Trains held up

At least six trains were held up for almost one-and-a-half hours as the special train ferrying Mamata to Howrah remained parked at Memari station as the railway minister inaugurated a computerised railway reservation counter there.