NEW DELHI: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday hit out
Congress leader
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury after a video went viral in which he is heard saying that voting for the BJP is preferable to voting for the TMC.
“The Congress’ leader in Lok Sabha is saying, ‘
vote for BJP
or Congress’. Think about it, there is neither ideology nor ideals. Some selfish people like him have sold off the country,” said Mamata, without naming Chowdhury.
She went on to say that “this Congress leader” was a “BJP agent” and “a traitor of the
INDIA bloc
“.
In the alleged video, Chowdhury, the current MP and candidate from Baharampur, West Bengal, was seen addressing a public gathering and stating, “It is necessary for Congress and the Left to win. If they don’t, secularism will be at stake. Voting for TMC means voting for BJP, so it’s better to vote for BJP only. Don’t vote for BJP, don’t vote for TMC.”
The TMC, already irritated by Chowdhury’s repeated jabs at the party, reacted to the video by holding him responsible for the failure of seat-sharing negotiations with Congress and labeling him “anti-Bengal.”
In an X post, the TMC claimed that after serving as the “eyes and ears of BJP in Bengal,” Chowdhury has now been elevated to the position of “voice of the BJP in Bengal.”
“Listen to how the B-Team member is openly asking people to vote for the BJP – a party that refused to release Bengal’s rightful due and deprived our people of their rights. Only a Bangla-Birodhi can campaign for the BJP, which has repeatedly insulted Bengal’s icons,” the TMC said.
In response to Adhir’s remark, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh stated that his party’s objective is to reduce the BJP’s numbers in West Bengal and that the TMC is a member of the INDIA bloc.
“I haven’t seen the video and don’t know in which context he has said this but I want to make it clear that Congress party has just one aim that is to heavily decrease the number of seats of the BJP that it has got in 2019,” said Ramesh.
In West Bengal, a three-way contest is unfolding between the TMC, the Congress-Left alliance, and the BJP.
Currently, the TMC holds 22 out of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state, while the BJP has 17, and the Congress has two MPs.
(With inputs from agencies)
