Kolkata: Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary announced on Tuesday that the party will fight Against the Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Mamata Banerjee’s home turf in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
This came a day after the West Bengal chief minister expressed willingness to cooperate with the Congress in the upcoming elections in seats where it has a significant presence.
However, he added a caveat. He said the Congress should support other parties where they are strong.
This statement was interpreted in political circles as a possible indication that she may enter into an alliance with the Congress, but only if they agree to support the TMC in West Bengal.
In the last assembly elections, the Congress had tied up with the Left party.
Speaking to ThePrint, Chaudhary said: Mamata Banerjee has realized after the Congress victory (in Karnataka) that she cannot move forward without an understanding with the Congress.
Did Mamata appeal even once to the people of Karnataka to support the Congress to defeat the BJP? The same Mamata Banerjee goes to UP, Bihar to campaign for anti-BJP parties, but she did not go to Karnataka because Congress was fighting there. Now, after the results, she has realized that without the Congress, she will not be able to secure Bengal,” Choudhary said.
be told that Congress had Defeated With the TMC and Bengal winning the Sagardighi Assembly seat in the recently held bypolls, Chowdhury claimed that the Congress was gaining ground in the state.
“We won the Sagardighi bypoll after 50 years, we won Karnataka but she (Mamata) did not take Rahul’s name even once. Nor did he mention the Congress. He should talk straight, talk to Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. He should not forget that all this happened because of SoniaYes that he had won in 2011. But since then Mamta has only tried to uproot the Congress from Bengal. We will continue the fight against TMC and its corruption in Bengal.”
However, speaking to ThePrint, TMC MP Saugata Roy said the Congress has been ‘eroded in Bengal’.
“We cannot tell the Congress what to do, but the Congress has been eroded in Bengal. TMC is dominant. Mamata Banerjee has been saying that from the very beginning, regional forces should fight the BJP in places where they are strong across the country. It doesn’t matter what Adhir Ranjan has to say,” Roy said.
Addressing a press conference at the state secretariat on Monday, Mamata defined the terms of her association with the Congress, suggesting her willingness to work with them.
“Wherever Congress is strong, according to their 200 seats or something (as we have calculated), let them fight and we will support them,” he said. But they have to see that they have to support other political parties also. I am supporting them in Karnataka but they are fighting against me every day. This should not be the policy. If you want something good, then in some areas you have to sacrifice yourself.
Open for discussion, CM of West Bengal, whose party Lost Giving up the national party tag in April this year, he said his proposal did not mean that the Congress should not contest elections, but a detailed discussion should be held to decide the strategy.
“In Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav should get priority. I am not saying that Congress should not fight there. Let’s decide. It is not in final stage. We can do so in detail when the matter is discussed.
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TMC rethinking its ‘go-it-alone’ strategy?
Trinamool did in March Mortgage To maintain equal distance from both Congress and BJP. The TMC MP and Trinamool leader on the floor of the Lok Sabha had said, “Any attempt by the Congress to become the Big Boss of the Opposition will be opposed. TMC is the second largest opposition party in India, and we are a force to be reckoned with.
In the same month, Mamata Banerjee said that TMC would contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections with the support of the people alone. The party, which has been intensifying its attacks against the Congress in and outside the election field, is now re-thinking its strategy after the results of Karnataka.
The BJP claimed that these were signs of TMC losing power. Speaking to ThePrint, BJP national vice-president Dilip Ghosh said, “Mamata Banerjee has been speaking against the Congress and Rahul Gandhi, then why has she suddenly changed her stand? This is an indication that Trinamool is losing ground in the state and no other party will join hands with it.
However, political analyst Snigdhendu Bhattacharya said that there has been no change in the TMC’s stand.
“Mamata Banerjee has always argued that if one has to fight against the BJP, the strong parties in each state should take on the BJP alone in that state – for example TMC in Bengal, SP in Uttar Pradesh, Congress in Madhya Pradesh , and so on. he told ThePrint. “This is the only point on which TMC has made persistent efforts to form an opposition alliance without Congress or with Congress in a lesser role.”
(Editing by Zinnia Ray Chowdhury)
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