Derek O'Brien's big announcement amid reports of rift in INDIA bloc: 'TMC is…'

Earlier this month, the TMC announced its list for all 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal, shrugging off Congress’s proposal for an alliance.

Updated on: Mar 31, 2024, 17:05:34 IST

By HT News Desk

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The Trinamool Congress is “very much a part of the Opposition's INDIA bloc,” MP Derek O'Brien announced on Sunday amid reports of bickering within the alliance Mamata Banerjee-led party announced its list of candidates for all 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in West Benga.l

Trinamool Congress MP Derek O'Brien at the Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi on Sunday. (Youtube/Congress)

“...All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) is very much was, is and will be part of the INDIA alliance,” Derek O'Brien said at a mega INDIA bloc rally in New Delhi's Ramlila Maidan. “This is a fight of the BJP versus democracy...”

The party dropped five of its sitting Lok Sabha members, with West Bengal chief minister and party chairperson Mamata Banerjee naming a raft of new candidates, including former cricketer Yusuf Pathan, who will contest from the Baharampur constituency, which state Congress chief and five-time parliamentarian Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has held since 1999.

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At the time, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury had criticised the TMC chief and West Bengal chief minister, saying that by announcing all candidates from West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee proved that no political leader or party should trust her. He had also said the list sends a message to the prime minister's office that she is not with the INDIA bloc.

In Sunday's rally, Derek O'Brien criticised the Narendra Modi-led BJP government saying that guarantees offered by the prime minister have “zero warranty”.

“Modi's guarantee has zero warranty! Zero warranty when it comes to price rise, jobs and protecting India's institutions,” he said.

He also raised the 2019 Pulwama attack saying that former Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik publicly said that “Narendra Modi did not want the truth to come out”.

“What did Narendra Modi want to hide?” Derek O'Brien asked. “Why did Narendra Modi do cheap politics, desperately seeking votes, when our jawans sacrificed their lives?”

He added: “We demand the truth to come out to honour our jawans. We demand a white paper!”

At the rally, TMC MP Sagarika Ghose also reiterated the party's support for the INDIA bloc.

"On behalf of the TMC and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, I want to state that the TMC is with Arvind Kejriwal and the AAP. I also want to state that the TMC is with the INDIA alliance," she said.

INDIA bloc rally

Opposition leaders came together in a show of strength at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan on Sunday to protest against the arrest of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in the Delhi liquor policy case.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, Nationalist Congress Party (SCP) chief Sharad Pawar, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal's wife Sunita Kejriwal and former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren's wife Kalpana Soren were also present.

Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a money laundering case linked with the now-scrapped excise policy on March 21. He is in custody till April 1.

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