Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has been appointed the new chief of West Bengal Congress
The Congress wants to join hands with the Left to take on the BJP and the Trinamool Congress in the forthcoming Bengal Assembly polls, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said Thursday at his first press conference since becoming chief of the party's state unit.
Appointed Wednesday night, Mr Chowdhury also called on all secular forces to come together to take on the BJP, but notably did not include the ruling Trinamool in this invitation.
Back in 2016 Mr Chowdhury, who is also his party's leader in the Lok Sabha, was the architect of a deal benefitted the Congress but not the Left. Today, he said wanted to revive that relationship.
"We want to turn a political understanding with the Left into an electoral understanding and not yield an inch to either the TMC or the BJP in the coming elections," he said.
"All secular people must come together under the Congress umbrella as it has never compromised its secular principles. That is the historic truth today, yesterday and tomorrow," he declared.
"The political unity between the Congress and the Left should be turned into electoral unity to give the Trinamool a zabardast (powerful) fight," Mr Chowdhury said.
The MP from Berhampore in Murshidabad district is a known critic of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
By appointing him to head the Bengal Congress - just ahead of Assembly polls - the party leadership seems to sending a clear message - that it wants nothing to do with the Trinamool.
Around a fortnight ago, however, interim Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Ms Banerjee co-chaired a meeting of opposition chief ministers to take on the BJP over the NEET and JEE issue.
That meeting prompted speculation the two parties may broker a deal, if not an alliance, to fight the state election together.
Deal or no deal, Mr Chowdhury's proposal for Left-Congress unity was greeted with derision by both the Trinamool and the BJP.
"Workers of both parties know the Congress-Left deal will not work. That's why they left their parties and joined us last time," the BJP's Dilip Ghosh said, adding, "It will happen again this time."