New Delhi: Bengal Congress President Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who is against an alliance with the Trinamool Congress in the state, has targeted Mamata Banerjee again. A section of Congress leaders who have sympathies with the Left and want a Left-Congress understanding, have been urging the central leadership of the party to not have alliance with the Trinamool which is a part of the INDIA alliance.
While senior Congress leaders are convinced about the advantages of an alliance with the Trinamool, especially to prevent the division of anti-BJP votes in the state, a section of state Congress leaders including Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, are in favour of a tie-up with Left, despite being reduced to zero in the state assembly after fighting the state assembly elections together in 2021.
Mr Chowdhury, though, denied having any knowledge of anyone "begging" for an alliance with the Trinamool.
"Who was begging we don't know. We are not beggars," he told reporters.
"Mamata Banerjee is saying we will fight the elections as an alliance. We have two seats, and we have no need for her mercy. We can fight on our own strength," he said.
The Trinamool chief, he alleged, does not want the alliance to happen.
"If there is no alliance, who will be most happy today in Hindustan? If there is no alliance, PM Modi will be most happy. What Mamata Banerjee is doing is serving Modiji," he declared.
Last week too, Mr Chowdhury had accused Ms Banerjee of scuttling the alliance in Bengal.
"The West Bengal Chief Minister does not want an alliance because she will face problems. The responsibility she has been given will face a problem if there is an alliance. We have no objection… The Congress has the capacity to fight elections on its own in Bengal."
The Trinamool, meanwhile, is also getting increasingly impatient as the Congress has ignored its deadline for seat-sharing talks. Mamata Banerjee has already made it clear that her party is not interested in giving the Congress six seats in Bengal. Sources say the Congress is looking at fighting in at least six seats, including seats Malda, Murshidabad and the Raiganj seat.
"INDIA alliance will be present in entire India and in Bengal the Trinamool Congress will fight. In Bengal it is only the Trinamool Congress that can teach the BJP a lesson. It can show the entire country the path to victory, not any other party," she has said.
Now, in the state, it is all-out war.
"There is a clear difference between Bengal Congress's stand and Delhi Congress stand. In Delhi Congress, Soniaji, Rahulji, they are eager to take cooperation from Trinamool Congress to make a solid INDIA alliance. But in Bengal the state Congress, they are playing a role of BJP agents because in 2021, it was Trinamool which fought the battle and defeated BJP," Trinamool spokesperson Kunal Ghosh has said.