"We Fought For Farmers, Trinamool Claiming Credit": Bengal Congress Chief

Senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Saturday said that while his party fought for farmers' rights during the agitation against the three contentious agriculture laws, the Trinamool Congress is now "falsely" claiming credit for their scrapping.

The Congress leader in Lok Sabha said that while Rahul Gandhi and other party leaders and workers stood in support of the agitating farmers across the country, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee did not even visit Jantar Mantar to meet the protesters despite being in Delhi.

"We fought for farmers' rights for 11 months, where was the Trinamool Congress then? The Mamata Banerjee-led party is now making a laughing stock of itself," he told reporters.

He said that Rahul Gandhi and other leaders had gone to the farmers' panchayat at Jantar Mantar and listened to the speeches of the agitation leaders there.

Mr Chowdhury alleged that the Trinamool was making false claims about its role in the farmers'' agitation and its support for their cause.

"Mamata Banerjee did not even meet the farmers at Jantar Mantar even though she was in Delhi then, but now the TMC has come out on the streets to falsely claim credit," Mr Chowdhury said.

"Since the start of the farmers' movement, the Congress has held agitations across the country against the three farm laws," he said.

Asked about agitation leaders such as Rakesh Tikait meeting Ms Banerjee and supporting the Trinamool in the West Bengal assembly elections held earlier this year, Mr Chowdhury, also the state Congress chief, sought to play it down, saying that they had gone to all poll-bound states to canvas against the BJP wherever there was a possibility of defeating the party.

He also accused the BJP and the Trinamool Congress of coming into an understanding, saying "investigations into the coal scam, Narada, Sarada have stopped."

Mr Chowdhury said that along with other Congress leaders, the Gandhi family scion had driven tractors in Punjab, Haryana and Delhi as a mark of protest against the contentious farm laws.

"Congress workers and leaders held protests in every district of the country against the black laws," he said, adding that the party has taken up the issue inside and outside the Parliament all along.

He claimed that the BJP is training its guns against Priyanka Gandhi with an eye on Punjab and Uttar Pradesh elections.

"It is evident that Priyanka Gandhi is becoming a cause of concern for the BJP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath," he said.