Barely hours after Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee extended a rider-laden olive branch to the Congress party, spelling out a one-on-one fight formula against the BJP for the parliamentary elections, the Bengal Congress leadership dismissed her proposal as “ridiculous and outrageous”.
Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said: “We have repeatedly said before that we are not going to become bedfellows with thieves. If the Congress has to progress in this state, it must do so by defeating Mamata. There are no two ways about that.”
On Monday, Mamata Banerjee said that the Trinamul Congress was ready to extend support to the Congress in the 2024 general elections in regions where the Congress is strong. But the Congress, too, should reciprocate the political gesture by not fighting the Trinamul on a daily basis in Bengal. She had clearly said that her unity formula entails the Trinamul fighting the 2024 Lok Sabha polls against the BJP by itself without the Left or Congress cutting into its vote share.
Calling the proposal “outrageous”, Chowdhury said, “What option did Didi have now but to say such things? Her national party status is gone, and she is now reduced to a regional party. She tried to decimate Congress whenever she found an opportunity. She started that process in Goa. She tried that in Meghalaya and came to a halt in Tripura. In Bengal, she is fast losing popularity because of people’s disillusionment with her party. She is now facing an existential crisis. The entire state is talking against her. That’s why she remembers Congress now. Why didn’t she remember the Congress before the Karnataka elections? Why did she not ask people before to vote for Congress?”
Chowdhury argued that Banerjee was attempting to ride past “her own crisis” by trying to piggyback on the Congress. “Even after winning elections, she never felt the need to work together with the Congress. Now, when there is a nation-wide positive response from people about the Congress, she feels the need to join the bandwagon and join hands with the Congress.