Kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Thursday asked Congress to merge with it and fight against BJP under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee after its rout in the assembly poll in five states where votes were counted on Thursday.
This drew a sharp retort from the grand old party which accused it of being an "agent of BJP".
Congress is now at an all time low, being in power only in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.
It is ahead in only two seats in Uttar Pradesh with a vote share of just 2.3 per cent — notwithstanding the high-decibel campaign by the Gandhi siblings Rahul and Priyanka.
"From the results, it is proven that Congress is now just limited to two states. Congress has failed to fight against the BJP.
"TMC has shown how you can put up a fight against the BJP and defeat it (in Bengal). It is high time that Congress merges with TMC and fights under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee," senior TMC leader and state minister Firhad Hakim said.
Echoing him, TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said Congress's failure to put up a fight has led to BJP's victory in the assembly poll in four of the five states.
"We have been saying this for a long that Congress in its present form is not suited to fight against the BJP. To fight against a formidable force like BJP, you need a leader like Mamata Banerjee," he said.
Reacting to TMC's jibe, West Bengal Congress president Adhir Chowdhury said "agents of BJP" should not advise the party how to fight against the saffron camp. On Trinamool Congress (TMC) drawing a blank in Goa, where it contested for the first time this year, Ghosh defended the party's performance saying "We had opened our units in Goa just a few months back. So we are happy that people of Goa are now aware of the party's symbol and flag. We are satisfied with the votes we got; we want to work hard to further increase our organisation in the coastal state".