Mamata Banerjee proves she can't be trusted, her message to PMO is....: Adhir hits back
Adhir Chowdhury said Trinamool could have sent Yusuf Pathan to the Rajya Sabha. Yusuf will be contesting from Adhir's Baharampur seat.
Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said by announcing 42 candidates from West Bengal for the Lok Sabha election 2024, Mamata Banerjee proved that no political leader or party should trust her. Adhir said the list sends a message to the Prime Minister's Office that she is not with the INDIA bloc. The statement came after the Trinamool on Sunday announced 42 names for all 42 seats in West Bengal. In Adhir's Baharampur constituency, Trinamool announced the name of ex-cricketer Yusuf Pathan. “If Mamata Banerjee or Trinamool wanted to honour Yusuf Pathan, they could have sent him to the Rajya Sabha, or could have asked for a seat in Gujarat for Yusuf Pathan," Adhir said. Pathan is from Gujarat and his connection to Bengal is that he played for Kolkata Knight Riders.
No alliance in West Bengal; Congress says, ‘Don’t know what pressure TMC had'
“Mamata Banerjee is scared that if she stands with the INDIA bloc, PM Modi will send ED and CBI door-to-door. So now she has sent a message to the PMO that ‘don’t be unhappy with me, I am not standing with the alliance against the BJP',” Adhir Ranjan said.
The announcement of 42 names made from Trinamool's Brigade rally ended speculations over Trinamool's alliance with the Congress in West Bengal which hit a roadblock over seat-sharing. Trinamool did not agree to give more than 3-4 seats to the Congress in Bengal but there was no official announcement that the alliance was over in West Bengal.
The Congress was taken by surprise by the announcement as well with general secretary Jairam Ramesh saying that the party wanted to fight the BJP with the TMC in West Bengal. He said he was unaware of what pressure might have been on the Trinamool to make such unilateral announcements.
Mamata, however, did not clarify on exiting the INDIA bloc. In fact, TMC is in alliance in other states. "We will contest one seat in Uttar Pradesh in a tie-up with Samajwadi Party. I had a word with Akhilesh (Yadav). We are an opposition party in Meghalaya. We will contest there, and in Assam as well," Mamata said explaining the situation of the Trinamool's position with the alliance as of now.