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Congress MP Adhir Chowdhury found himself at the receiving end of Trinamool Congress (TMC) ire when a video surfaced of the Congress leader saying that voting for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is better than voting for the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led party in the Lok Sabha Elections 2024.
TMC and Congress are INDIA bloc allies at the national level. However, the two parties failed to enter into a seat-sharing agreement in West Bengal, which led to the parties becoming contestants in the general assembly polls.
After the video surfaced, the TMC accused Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury of being the “B-team” of the BJP. The purported video showed Chowdhury, the sitting MP and candidate from West Bengal’s Baharampur, addressing a public meeting and saying, “It’s better to vote for the BJP than to vote for the TMC.”
In a bid to assuage the situation, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh remarked that the goal of the Mallikarjun Kharge-led party is to reduce the number of votes BJP would possibly get in West Bengal. Ramesh also reiterated that TMC is part of the INDIA bloc, formed to take on the BJP-led NDA in the Lok Sabha Elections 2024.
Ramesh, meanwhile, said that the Congress’s only goal was to bring down the BJP’s numbers in West Bengal.
“I do not know the context of what Adhir ji said, but our aim is to reduce the numbers of BJP in West Bengal significantly,” Ramesh said.
The latest exchange of barbs reveals that the TMC is miffed with MP Chowdhury and his repeated jibes at the party. The TMC had earlier labeled Adhir Chowdhury as “anti-Bengal” and claimed that the Congress leader is the reason for the failure of seat-sharing talks between Congress and TMC in West Bengal.
In a post on X, the TMC said that after acting as the “eyes and ears of BJP in Bengal,” Chowdhury has now been promoted as the “voice of the BJP in Bengal.”
“Listen to how the B-Team member is openly asking people to vote for the BJP – a party that refused to release Bengal’s rightful due and deprived our people of their rights. Only a Bangla-Birodhi can campaign for the BJP, which has repeatedly insulted Bengal’s icons,” the TMC said.
“On May 13, people of Baharampur will give a befitting response to this betrayal!” it added.
TMC Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale also attacked the Congress leader over the remarks. “Finally – from the B-team horse’s mouth! Congress Bengal chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury publicly asks people in his rally to vote for the BJP, not the TMC. While Mamata Banerjee fights against the full might of Modi’s Central Agencies machinery, Bengal Congress is openly asking votes for the BJP,” he said in a post on X.
“In Bengal, TMC is INDIA taking on BJP. Meanwhile, Congress and CPM have chosen to become Modi’s loyal soldiers. This is disgusting and beyond shameless,” he said.
West Bengal is witnessing a triangular contest between the TMC, Congress-Left alliance, and the BJP. TMC has 22 out of 42 seats in Lok Sabha, BJP 17, and Congress two.
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Published: 01 May 2024, 06:13 PM IST
