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Rahul Gandhi, Abhishek Banerjee hold talks in Delhi ahead of Mumbai meet
Wednesday’s meeting began around 6.30am at 10 Janpath Road residence where Rahul currently resides. Rahul reportedly left for Karnataka after the talks to attend a Congress programme
Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Wednesday met with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in Delhi to discuss strategies ahead of the Mumbai meet of opposition parties, senior leaders of TMC said.
This is the first time that Banerjee, who is seen as the second in command in TMC, held a one-on-one meeting with Gandhi. No intimation was given to the media.
Wednesday’s meeting began around 6.30am at 10 Janpath Road residence where Rahul currently resides. Rahul reportedly left for Karnataka after the talks to attend a Congress programme.
“We cannot make speculative statements on precisely what the two leaders might have discussed or why they met in private although both will be present in Mumbai on Thursday and Friday when partners of the INDIA alliance meet. However, one can say for sure that they must have discussed strategies for the 2024 polls,” a TMC leader said on condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, West Bengal chief minister and Abhishek’s aunt, Mamata Banerjee, boarded a Kolkata-Mumbai flight on Wednesday afternoon. Abhishek had left for Delhi a day before.
The meeting is significant for the Bengal unit of the Congress since it is a political adversary of TMC in the state.
Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who is also the leader of his party in the Lok Sabha, has so far maintained silence on the possibility of becoming an ally of TMC.
Of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal, the Congress controls only two while the TMC has 23 MPs and the BJP has 17. One BJP MP, Arjun Singh, has returned to TMC although he has not resigned from the Lok Sabha.
BJP has set a target of winning 35 seats in West Bengal in 2024.
“At a time when all opposition parties have come together to usher in a socio-economic change in the country, the meeting between two leaders, who are second on command of their respective parties is indeed significant. The BJP will be ousted in 2024,” TMC Rajya Sabha member Santanu Sen told HT.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M)– which ruled over West Bengal for 34 years but currently has no Lok Sabha member and legislator from the state – is also a part of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) alliance.
However, on August 6, the CPI(M) central committee allowed its Bengal unit to contest against TMC in 2024 while letting other state units formulate strategies that suit the purpose of the anti-BJP coalition.
“There is no question of forming an alliance with TMC in Bengal,” CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty said.
Bengal BJP’s chief spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya refused to attach any importance to the Rahul-Abhishek meeting.
“These meetings have no significance. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will raise the Indian flag on Independence Day next year. People have already decided the outcome of the election,” he said.
On Thursday, the opposition’s Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc of 28 parties reached Mumbai to participate in the third national-level two-day conclave being held to set the roadmap for the 2024 general elections to take on the ruling BJP-led government at the Centre.
