India News | Congress Has Failed to Build Movement Against BJP: Abhishek Banerjee

Kolkata/Samserganj, Sep 23 (PTI) Trinamool Congress National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Thursday claimed the Congress party has failed to build a movement against BJP and alleged WBPCC President Adhir Chowdhury has an "understanding with CPI(M)" to weaken the TMC, in order to help BJP, in by-polls in Murshidabad district.

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Banerjee, who was addressing a party meeting at Samserganj in Murshidabad district in support of the TMC candidate for the by-polls slated for September 30, blamed the Congress for failing to build up a movement against the "communal" politics of the BJP in the state and said its candidates have no chances of scoring a win.

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"You (Congress) had an alliance with the Left front even before the assembly polls. But what happened? You had been elected as MP from Berhampore but how many times people saw you on the road in recent days? Had it been TMC we would surely helped people in a better way," the young TMC leader and MP from Diamond Harbour said, without naming Chowdhury.

Banerjee said "You have an understanding with the CPI(M) to weaken the TMC ... this will help the BJP." He also asked voters in the two constituencies in Murshidabad, Samserganj and Jangipur, which are going to polls to not "waste their votes" by voting for the Congress and instead to switch their support to TMC.

Murshidabad and Malda have long been strongholds of the Congress party. However recent elections to the state assembly showed that TMC had managed to wrest the leadership position in these two vital districts.

Reacting to Banerjee's diatribe, Chowdhury dismissed allegations of helping BJP in any way and wondered if "by weakening Congress in West Bengal, TMC will make any significant gains to oust the communal BJP from power at the Centre."

TMC Supremo Mamata Banerjee has last month attended a meeting called by Sonia Gandhi to forge unity among opposition parties in a common bid to take on the ruling BJP.

A bitter Chowdhury who has seen defections galore from his camp including by Abhijit Mukherjee, former Jangipur MP and son of Late Pranab Mukherjee, his mentor and President of India, said that if Mamata Banerjee wants to fight the Narendra Modi government seriously in the run up to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, her party's leaders should refrain from making such charges.

He wondered how Banerjee would explain TMC's past alliance with the BJP. "We have never seen any leader in TMC explaining their past conduct," the WBPCC chief said.

The bonhomie between the Congress and the Trinamool Congress hit choppy waters earlier this month after TMC's Bengali language newspaper “Jago Bangla” claimed that party supremo Mamata Banerjee, and not Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, has emerged as the face of the opposition against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Banerjee in his election speech asserted that his party had managed to drive "outsiders" in the last assembly polls and would do so again in the by-polls. The TMC has often referred to the BJP as a "party of outsiders".

"These outsiders need to be taught a lesson again... The saffron party will be defeated in the upcoming elections. Wherever the BJP is in power, we will go there and dislodge the party," he asserted.

The MP also alleged that the BJP government in Tripura has imposed restrictions under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code to stop him from holding rallies in the neighbouring state.

"How long will the order be in force in Tripura? The TMC will register victory in Tripura for sure. People will see what the TMC is capable of achieving in the next three months," he said. Assembly polls are scheduled to be held in Tripura in early 2023.

The TMC has fielded Amirul Islam from Samserganj seat, where polls were earlier countermanded following the death of Congress candidate Rezaul Haque.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)