Adhir fumes at 2-seat ‘offer’, scorches INDIA ally: ‘Don’t need Mamata’s pity’

There are 42 Lok Sabha seats in total in West Bengal, and the BJP had last time stunned by winning 18 of those. The TMC count of 22 makes it the fourth largest party in the Lok Sabha after the BJP, Congress and DMK. Sources said the Congress is pushing for 6 seats from the state.

Speaking to reporters in Berhampore, Chowdhury said: “Mamata Banerjee has herself stated she wants an alliance. The 2 seats that she is offering are already with us… It is as if she is trying to take pity on us… We do not need her mercy. We can fight on our own strength.”

Chowdhury, whose relations with Mamata can be best described as strained, said that if the INDIA group was not able to reach an agreement, it would only benefit the BJP.

“If the alliance fails, who would be the happiest person in India? Narendra Modi. What Mamata Banerjee is doing is serving his cause. She is trying to help him,” the Congress leader said.

The seats the Congress is hoping to get fall in the Malda, Murshidabad, Uttar Dinajpur and Darjeeling districts.

Earlier, on January 1 too, Chowdhury had accused Mamata of being “against INDIA” in Bengal and “ruining” its prospects in the state. “Her party says that it is interested in an alliance nationally, but not in Bengal. It is clear that the Chief Minister does not want an alliance here,” Chowdhury had said.

He seemed to be referring to Mamata’s statement at a public meeting in North 24 Parganas recently. “INDIA will be there and fight across the country, but in Bengal it will be the Trinamool Congress which will fight against the BJP,” she had said.

The sparring is not likely to help INDIA seat understanding in Bengal, which was anyway expected to be tough given the bitter rivalry between the TMC and Congress-Left in the state.

State Congress sources said that while they would take the lead of the high command in Delhi on the issue, they hoped the leadership would bear in mind their reservations. “Added to this, they are trying to force us to accept just 2 seats. We all know that the districts of Malda and Murshidabad are our strongholds. In Uttar Dinajpur, we have a good organisation. Recently, leaders and workers have joined us from Darjeeling. How can we accept just 2 seats, that too those where we have consistently won over the years?” a senior state Congress leader said.

The leader gave the example of the Sagardighi Assembly seat bypoll held early last year. “Our candidate won but was lured away by the TMC… Earlier, in 2011, we had an understanding with the TMC, and while the TMC won 184, we got 42 seats. Later, they just robbed our MLAs.”

It was Abu Hasem Khan Chowdhury, the brother of the late Ghani Khan Chowdhury, the long-time Congress MP from Malda Dakshin, who first said that he was hearing that Mamata had offered the party just 2 seats, Berhampore and Malda Dakshin. “She is telling us to take these. But we have other demands and we have been informing her of them,” Abu Chowdhury said.

The CPI(M), whose state unit is opposed to any truck with the TMC, will be watching what happens with the Congress closely.

Reacting to Chowdhury’s statement Thursday, CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty said: “What Adhir Chowdhury said is true. People who voted for the TMC have realised their mistake, and those who thought that the BJP will oust it have also realised that they have been duped. The BJP has, in fact, helped the TMC.”

According to Chakraborty, Mamata has “never” been against the BJP. “During the voting for the President and Vice-President posts, she backed the BJP. Whenever RSS bosses have asked, saying that Modiji is in trouble, Mamata Banerjee’s forces have gone to his rescue. How to be in an Opposition alliance and mislead it, so that Modiji gets the advantage… that is what the TMC has done. Mamata Banerjee wants to keep Modiji happy because she wants to keep herself and her nephew (Abhishek Banerjee) out of jail. Mamata Banerjee’s forces have no guts to fight against Modi,” the CPI(M) leader said.