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INDIA coalition exists even without seat adjustments: Abhishek Banerjee
People will decide the victory or failure of the BJP, or that of the alliance, in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the TMC MP said
Amid turmoil within the opposition camp following Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s exit from the INDIA coalition, Trinamool Congress national general secretary and MP Abhishek Banerjee on Monday said that the anti-Bharatiya Janata Party grouping is a reality even if there is no seat-sharing arrangement among the partners in certain states.
People will decide the victory or failure of the BJP, or that of the alliance, in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, he said.
“What can be done if seat adjustment talks do not take place? We waited for a long time, but the Congress did not respond. The INDIA alliance is very much there. Our chairperson (West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee) has said that she is a part of it. If people want BJP to win, they will win. If people want INDIA to win, so will it be. People will have the last word. That is democracy,” Banerjee told media persons at Diamond Harbour, his Lok Sabha constituency since 2014.
Mamata Banerjee, his aunt, earlier ruled out seat-sharing agreement between her TMC and the Congress in West Bengal, saying the latter did not hold any discussion, and also ignored her offer to let Congress contest 300 out of India’s 543 Lok Sabha seats, leaving the rest for regional parties.
Abhishek Banerjee’s statement came a day after Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, who is currently leading the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in the state, said the country will not forgive West Bengal if it does not show the right path to the nation.
Gandhi made the statement in north Bengal soon after Nitish Kumar exited the INDIA coalition and returned to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.
Without mincing words, Abhishek Banerjee accused the state Congress, especially West Bengal unit president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, of jeopardising the alliance in the state.
“The talks on forming a nationwide platform against the BJP started in June last year and this is end-January. Over these seven months, Chowdhury targeted Mamata Banerjee, supported CBI and ED raids on TMC leaders and even called for President’s rule in the state saying the government has failed. Is this how an ally behaves? Show me an instance of TMC targeting Congress during the same period,” Abhishek said.
“Chowdhury has called TMC the BJP’s Trojan Horse. The people of Bengal can see for themselves who the BJP’s Trojan Horse is,” the TMC MP added.
Chowdhury could not be contacted as he was travelling with Rahul Gandhi.
Responding to the TMC leader’s statement, state Congress leader Koustav Bagchi said, “Our state leaders have to listen to such wild accusations from scam-tainted TMC leaders because our stand on TMC differs from that of our national leadership. Had our state and national leaders followed the same view, this odd situation could have been avoided. However, Banerjee’s allegations make no difference.”
