Panaji : Senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has lashed out at Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee for speaking against the Congress in Goa and said she was doing so to a party now that had always come out in her support and wondered if she was working as an “agent of BJP”.
Mr Chowdhury, who is the West Bengal Congress unit president, at a press meet yesterday demanded to know why Ms Banerjee, who is trying to cobble up opposition unity, had entered into an alliance with the BJP in the past and was a minister in an NDA government.
Incidentally, Ms Banerjee’s criticism of the Congress came on the day its leader Rahul Gandhi was also in Goa to kickstart the party’s campaign in the state.
Mr Chowdhury made the comments after the TMC Chief Mamata Banerjee slammed Congress for making ‘Prime Minister Narendra Modi’ more powerful. She said that, said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is only going to be “more powerful” because the Congress is not serious about politics. She also accused the principal opposition party at the national level of not taking decisions, adding that the country is suffering because of that.
Reacting sharply to Ms Banerjee’s comments, the Baharampur MP said, “I wonder if you are not working as the agent of BJP now. Please recall who had entered into alliance with BJP in past and was part of the NDA cabinet. And you are now criticising Congress that has always come to your support.
“If Congress cannot satisfy you after all the support with our resources, will the people of Bengal be able to do so? Will you behave in the same way with those who have elected TMC for three consecutive times as you have done with Congress?” Mr Chowdhury asked.
Speaking about the Congress, Ms Banerjee said yesterday, “I cannot say everything right now because they didn’t take politics seriously. Modiji is going to be more powerful because of the Congress…If one cannot take decision, why should the country suffer for that?
“They (Congress) got opportunity (in the past). Instead of fighting against BJP, they contested against me in my state…..”
Her party has announced that it will contest all 40 seats in Goa, where Assembly polls are due early next year.
When asked about what decisions she thinks the Congress should be taking, she said, “I am not going to discuss about the Congress because it is not my party. I have set up my regional party and without any support of anybody, we formed the government thrice.
“Let them decide. That is my system also, I don’t interfere into any other political party’s business, I can say about my political party and our fight will continue. We are not going to bow down to BJP,” she added.
Mr Chowdhury, a vociferous critic of the West Bengal chief minister, has been more vocal against her for the past one month ever since the Trinamool projected Ms Banerjee as the spearhead of the anti-BJP campaign.
Ms Banerjee had claimed in an article titled ‘Dillir Dak” (Call of Delhi) in the puja edition of the party mouthpiece ‘Jago Bangla’ that as the Congress has “miserably failed” to put up a fight against the BJP, the people of India have put the onus on the Trinamool Congress to create a new India by ousting the “fascist” saffron party.
“But the fact is, in the recent past, the Congress has failed to put up a fight against the BJP. In the last two Lok Sabha polls, it was proved. If you can’t provide a fight at the Centre, it breaks the confidence of the masses, and the BJP gains a few more votes in states. We cannot allow this to happen this time,” she said in the article.
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