NEW DELHI: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has accused
Congress leader
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury of being the “B-team” of the BJP after a video surfaced online in which he was heard saying that voting for the BJP is preferable to voting for the TMC.
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.
TMC Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale also criticized the Congress leader for his statements. In an X post, he said, “Finally – from the B-team horse’s mouth! Congress Bengal chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury publicly asks people in his rally to vote for the BJP and not the TMC. While Mamata Banerjee fights against the full might of Modi+Central Agencies machinery, Bengal Congress is openly asking votes for the BJP.”
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)
