Adhir reason for alliance not working out in Bengal: TMC

New Delhi / Kolkata: Just a day after Mamata Banerjee announced her party will fight alone in Bengal, Trinamool Congress (TMC), blaming Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury for the failure of seat-sharing talks between the two parties in the state, also dissociated itself from the INDIA bloc.

However, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh asserted that the Opposition bloc INDIA “cannot be imagined without Mamata Banerjee”. “If we want to defeat the BJP in Bengal and India, Mamata Banerjee is very much needed. Our leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge have immense respect for Mamata ji,” he said.

TMC Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien, however, stressed that the Trinamool had “turned the page”.

O’Brien said that Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury was the sole reason that the alliance did not work out between TMC and Congress in Bengal. Derek accused the Congress leader of acting at the behest of the BJP by allegedly speaking out against the INDIA bloc.

“He (Adhir) even endorses ED actions in Bengal when they are against Trinamool. He holds special Press conferences to belittle Mamata Banerjee and barely speaks against BJP leaders,” the Trinamool leader added.

Meanwhile, TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh, in a social media post on X said: “The state unit of Congress is attacking TMC here and giving oxygen to BJP. This will not work. We are ready to contest all 42 seats, Congress should talk about seat sharing on the basis of ground reality but they are doing politics of pressure. CM Mamata Banerjee will take the final decision...”

On the issue of whether the TMC still remains part of the INDIA bloc, O’Brien said: “After the general elections, if the Congress does its job and defeats the BJP on a substantial number of seats the TMC will very much be a part of the front that believes and fights for the Constitution and plurality.”

On Wednesday, TMC chief Mamata Banerjee had said: “Let the Congress fight 300 seats on its own (in the country). The regional parties are together and can contest the rest. However, we will not tolerate any interference by them (Congress) in Bengal,” she asserted.

Mamata had also alleged that Congress never bothered to inform her that Rahul Gandhi would be visiting Bengal as part of the Nyay Yatra.

However, Jai Ram Ramesh said: “We had twice sent invites to Mamata ji to join the yatra. All of us want her to be part of the yatra because our aim is the same; to fight against the injustice that is prevailing in the country.”

During the Bengal leg of the ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ Congress leader Rahul Gandhi addressing a gathering in Cooch Behar on Thursday said: “We have come with our Mohabbat Ka Dukan (shop dishing out love). The rally is travelling from Manipur to Maharashtra. The BJP and RSS are busy spreading hate, violence and injustice throughout the country. The INDIA bloc formation will fight united against all this.”