Mallikarjun Kharge speaks to TMC's Mamata Banerjee in frantic bid to salvage INDIA bloc
Top political functionaries said that the two leaders spoke on both the seat-sharing impasse and Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra that has entered Bengal.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge spoke to West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday, in a frantic effort to salvage the situation a day after she announced the Trinamool Congress (TMC) would go alone in the Lok Sabha polls.
Top political functionaries added that the two leaders spoke on both the seat-sharing impasse and Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra that has entered Bengal.
“Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge has spoken with Mamata Banerjee today. We will find a way forward,” the Congress’s communications chief Jairam Ramesh told reporters. He lauded Banerjee as the tallest political leader in Bengal and said that Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul will be happy if she joins the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Bengal even if it’s for few minutes.
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A senior Congress leader added that the party will try to organise a meeting between Banerjee and the top brass of the Congress to solve the impasse. Earlier in the day, a senior Congress leader reached out to TMC.
“The designated person of the Congress for talks called the designated person in Trinamool after Banerjee announced in Burdwan that TMC will fight in all 42 (Lok Sabha) seats (in the state). The Congress wants to sit with TMC for talks. But we told the Congress it has failed to rein in Chowdhury even after Banerjee’s announcement,” said a senior TMC leader, who asked not to be named.
The leader’s reference is to Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, whom the TMC blames for the collapse of the alliance.
“There are three reasons behind the collapse of the alliance in Bengal: Adhir, Adhir and Adhir,” said Derek O’Brien, the Rajya Sabha leader of the TMC. He implied that Chowdhury’s views were similar to that of the BJP’s. “He’s the voice but content is provided by the two people in Delhi.”
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The TMC is believed to have told the Congress that Chowdhury alone is responsible for the collapse of the alliance in Bengal and reminded it that on the sidelines of the first meeting of the alliance in Patna, even RJD patriarch Lalu Prasad told the Congress to rein in Chowdhury and give full freedom to Banerjee in Bengal. It also added that after over 200 days since the inception of the INDIA bloc on June 23 last year, the Congress has not completed seat sharing negotiations.
TMC has offered two seats to the Congress in Bengal and wants a seat each in Meghalaya and Assam.
“210 days have passed. We have turned the page. She (Banerjee) didn’t make a statement as negotiating tool. She announced a decision. It was not to test the depth,” said a second senior TMC leader, who also asked not to be named.
O’Brien also added that the TMC is not quitting the INDIA bloc. “We still believe we need to fight to protect the Constitution. We need to fight for federal rights. The BJP remains our principal enemy“.