Kolkata:

The Congress’ Bengal boss, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, on Thursday weighed in on the ‘is she, isn’t she’ debate over Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s membership of the INDIA opposition bloc.

Responding to her “… will provide outside support (if the group wins the election)” comment Wednesday, Mr Chowdhury declared, “I don’t trust her… she left the alliance. She can also go towards the BJP.”

“What she will do from outside (the alliance) or inside… I don’t know. That you have to ask her,” the Congress leader told reporters, “But I don’t trust her. She left the alliance… she could even run to BJP.”

Mr Chowdhury – there is little love lost between him and Ms Banerjee, a fact underlined by the latter yesterday explicitly stating “… INDIA alliance doesn’t count Bengal Congress…” – also said, “Whatever complaints she has (about the bloc) she should have raised earlier, when it was created.”

#WATCH | West Bengal: On CM Mamata Banerjee’s remarks “will support INDIA bloc from outside to form govt at Centre”, Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury says, “I don’t trust her. She left the alliance and ran away. She can also go towards the BJP… They were talking about… pic.twitter.com/F3unHSUfD6

— ANI (@ANI) May 16, 2024

Mr Chowdhury further pointed out the apparent U-turn came after polling for nearly 70 per cent of all Lok Sabha seats, with the opposition bloc claiming big advances in its bid to oust the ruling BJP.

“They (referring to the BJP) were talking about destroying Congress and that Congress would not get 40 seats… but now (what) she is saying means Congress and INDIA are coming to power,” he said, appearing to suggest Ms Banerjee’s about-face followed a realisation the BJP will likely be defeated.

A day earlier Ms Banerjee – who had put her membership of the bloc on hold after public spats over seat-sharing deals – declared she would provide “outside support” in the event of an election win.

READ | Mamata Banerjee Redefines INDIA, Says Will Provide “Outside Support”

“We will give leadership to INDIA and help… from outside. We will form a government so our Bengal mothers and sisters… and those who work in 100-days job scheme do not face problems,” she said.

This afternoon, at a poll rally in Tamluk, Ms Banerjee underlined her position, saying, “I am very much part of INDIA… it was my brainchild. We are together at national level and will continue to be together.”

Ms Banerjee did, though, make it clear – yesterday and today – that she does not see the Congress’ state unit and the CPM, as allies. The Congress and the CPM, which is also part of the INDIA bloc, are allied in Bengal (but rivals in Kerala), but have fielded candidates against the Trinamool.

The Bengal Chief Minister has frequently attacked the Mr Chowdhury-led Congress unit, and the CPM, as having unofficially joined the BJP. “They are not with us… they are with the BJP here.”

Earlier this year, as the Congress was scrambling to confirm seat-share deals with INDIA allies ahead of voting for the 2024 Lok Sabha election, Ms Banerjee – seen as one of the group’s more cantankerous members – refused to play ball, insisting she would not give up more seats to that party than necessary.

READ | “No Tie-Up With Congress”: Mamata’s Bengal Twist Stuns INDIA Bloc

She pointed to the Congress’ abysmal record in the 2019 election – in which it won just two of 42 seats – and insisted her party had the best chance to defeat the BJP in the state.

Bengal has 42 Lok Sabha seats, of which the Trinamool won 22 last time and the BJP got 18, and Ms Banerjee reasoned the Congress simply did not have the clout to stop the saffron party in the state.

After a tension-filled few weeks in January and February, Ms Banerjee walked away from the bloc.

READ | “Even With Binoculars…”: Trinamool Sources On Congress’ 5-Seat Demand

Sources then told NDTV they could not find a third seat for the Congress “even with binoculars”.

This was after Ms Banerjee and the Congress’ Delhi unit failed to advance seat-share talks, and she hit out at what she said was a personal snub from Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’.

The Congress then said the opposition “cannot imagine INDIA without Mamataji“.

READ | “Cannot Imagine INDIA Without Mamataji“: Congress On “No Tie-Up” Jab

Amidst all this back-and-forth, Mr Chowdhury continued to attack the Trinamool, declaring Ms Banerjee – a former member of the Congress – owed her state success to the party’s “mercy”. In fact, Mr Chowdhury was fiercely opposed to the idea of an alliance with Ms Banerjee and the Trinamool.

READ | Behind INDIA Jolt, Adhir Ranjan’s Obstinacy, Trinamool’s Regional Card

The battle for Bengal is one of several headline points, with the BJP keen on continuing to make inroads into the state after its success in the 2019 general election and the 2021 state poll. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and Ms Banerjee have all gone head-to-head on the campaign trail, with frequent sharp attacks on contentious topics like the citizenship law.

The state will continue to vote in each of the three remaining phases. Results are due on June 4.

With input from agencies

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Kolkata:

Hitting out at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for not contesting in partnership with the INDIA bloc partners in her state, senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury questioned why the Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo had not put any condition regarding him when she was striking the alliance.

“Why did not Mamata Banerjee put a condition in the beginning that if Adhir Chowdhury is in, she will not be in the INDIA bloc? Why did she not say that because of Adhir Chowdhury she was forced to leave INDIA bloc?” Mr Chowdhury said, speaking at a joint press conference with Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Biman Bose on Sunday.

Claiming that he was made into a sacrificial goat for the failure of the INDIA bloc in West Bengal, the West Bengal Congress chief questioned why Ms Banerjee did not speak about her opposition to him (Adhikari) earlier, especially when everyone is aware of his criticism of the TMC chief.

“I have always been critical of Mamata Banerjee. Then why did she not think of it earlier? Time and space dimension is a crucial aspect of political assessment. What is the time when the incident is taking place. And why Adhir Chowdhury is being made a sacrificial goat? Everyone knows about my opposition to Mamata Banerjee,”  Mr  Chowdhury said.

Mr Chowdhury claimed that Ms Banerjee is “surrendering: herself to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to protect her nephew and party General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee from the central investigative agencies.

“You (Mamata Banerjee) are surrendering yourself to PM Modi to defend Khokababu (Abhishek Banerjee) from ED, CBI…Bengal’s Khokababu is now being washed in Modi’s washing machine just like 25 other opposition leaders were forgiven by Modi’s CBI, ED, Income Tax after they joined his party,” the Congress leader said.

Speaking about Mamata Banerjee’s earlier alliance with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Adhikari said, “If you look at our country’s political history you may notice that in 1999, Mamata Banerjee had joined hands with BJP. She was also a Minister in their government.”

He also blamed the Chief Minister for the BJP’s increasing footprint in the state during Mamata Banerjee’s tenure.

“Secondly, the party which floursihed the most while Mamata Banerjee was in power in Bengal is BJP. In 2011, there were only 400-450 RSS branches in West Bengal. Today, the number has gone up to 12-13 thousand. So who helped the BJP?” he said.

The state Congress chief also said that both the TMC and the BJP gain if there is polarisation of votes in the state.

“In 2021 elections, only the BJP and the TMC profited. They wanted to spread the fear of CAA, NRC. They want the polarisation of votes in Bengal because only these two parties profit from it,” he said.

Continuing to establish the relation between Ms Banerjee and the BJP, he said that the Chief Minister is an “opportunist” leader.

“The relationship between Mamata Banerjee and the BJP is well known. In Delhi, Mamata Banerjee was one of the tallest speakers at an RSS convention…Mamata Banerjee reasons that not all leaders in the BJP are communal. She says that Lal Krishna Advani, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Rajnath Singh are not communal. The rest of them are communal…She is just an opportunist leader,” the Congress leader said.

On Mamata Banerjee’s position about her association with the INDIA bloc, Adhikari said, “She wants to oppose INDIA bloc in Bengal but when it comes to forming the government, she will again take a different stand and be part of the INDIA bloc…She is a politician who may be called persona non grata in political jargon.”

Though the TMC is part of the INDIA bloc, it does not have a seat-sharing arrangement with the other parties in the alliance, like Congress and the Left parties in the state.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the TMC won 34 seats in the state, while the BJP had to settle for just 2 seats. The CPI (M) won 2 seats, while the Congress bagged 4.

However, the BJP came up with a much-improved showing in the 2019 polls, winning 18 seats against the TMC’s 22. The Congress’s tally dropped to just 2 seats, while the Left scored a blank.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)