"Congress Least Bothered": Trinamool Editorial On Firming Up Alliance Against BJP

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Thursday launched a fresh attack on the Congress, accusing the grand old party of "limiting itself to Twitter space" instead of firming up an opposition alliance against the BJP.

As West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee embarked on her three-day visit to poll-bound Goa, the party in its mouthpiece "Jago Bangla" iterated that it would venture out to other states to expand its base and put up a formidable fight against the BJP.

"We want an alliance to be formed against the BJP. We have said this to the Congress, too. But it is least bothered and shows a lackadaisical approach," an editorial in the TMC mouthpiece said.

Referring to the proposal of setting up of a joint steering committee by Banerjee during the August 20 opposition meet convened by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, the editorial said nothing has moved forward since then.

"The Congress is limited to the Twitter space. The party has taken no initiative to build an opposition alliance. In 2014 and 2019, too, the Congress had done the same," it said.

The editorial further clarified that the TMC would continue to bolster its strength, while keeping the "doors of alliance with the Congress open".

"We have never said that an opposition alliance will be forged without the Congress. But we will not waste our time for them by sitting idle," it added.

The TMC, of late, has been criticising the grand old party over its alleged failure to take on the BJP.

Earlier this month, the Mamata Banerjee-led party took a dig at Rahul Gandhi's defeat at Amethi in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, as it wondered if the Congress could erase the setback through a Twitter trend.

The relationship between the Congress and the TMC seemed to have soured after the ruling party in Bengal, in its mouthpiece, claimed that party supremo Mamata Banerjee, and not Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, has emerged as the face of the opposition.