Bengal Congress had informed the Congress high command about Mamata’s ‘brutal nature’, but the Congress high command ignored.
New Delhi: As West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee goes on a hiring spree of Congress leaders from across the country, Congress leaders from Bengal have accused the Bengal Chief Minister of trying to break the opposition unity and to “kill the Congress politically”.
A senior Congress leader from Bengal told The Sunday Guardian that the TMC is in a mission to finish the Congress and that the state unit had on multiple occasions informed the Congress high command in Delhi about the “nature” of Mamata Banerjee, but all these fell to the deaf ears of the Congress high command.
“It was a political blunder of the Congress to go soft on Mamata Banerjee during the successive elections in Bengal. Our leaders from Bengal had on multiple occasions informed the High Command in Delhi about how Mamata Banerjee is a brutal leader and can go to any extent to fulfil her ambitions, but the high command did not listen to us. Now, they are having to face the consequences. The Bengal Congress had also informed the high command in Delhi about how the TMC had over the years finished the Congress in Bengal; even that was not paid heed to. Mamata Banerjee was trusted blindly by Soniaji since she shared a cordial relationship with Mamata Banerjee and look now she is on a mission to break the Congress,” the senior Congress leader said.
The Congress high command in Delhi had decided not to field any candidate against Mamata Banerjee in the recently concluded byelection of Bhawanipore, Kolkata, in a show of support to the TMC. The Congress also did not aggressively campaign during the Bengal Assembly polls held earlier this year.
But just months after the polls, the TMC went on a mission mode to rope in several Congress leaders from different states, including from Haryana, Goa, North East and Bihar to build a pan-India presence of the TMC and portray itself as the leader of the opposition group before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Another Congress leader from Bengal told this newspaper that it is Prashant Kishor who has ignited the Prime Ministerial ambition in Mamata Banerjee, with his “larger motive”.
“Prashant Kishor is the guy who is behind all these hiring sprees of the TMC across the country. Kishor met the Congress leaders and he could not get from the Congress what he wanted and, therefore, he is working to finish the Congress. But he would fail, the TMC is a regional party, while the Congress is a national party and, therefore, the dream of Kishor and Mamata to make Congress Mukt Bharat will never see the light of the day,” the Congress leader said.
Earlier, Bengal Congress President Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury had said in different places that the TMC is trying to “politically kill the Congress”. He even said that the TMC is on a mission to “weaken” the Congress and that Mamata Banerjee is working as an “informer” for BJP and Narendra Modi.
Sources close to Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury told this correspondent that the Bengal unit of the Congress was aware of her moves and had informed the High Command multiple times. The source also slammed the Delhi Congress leadership on being slow to react to information from leaders on the ground.
The TMC, however, is posturing itself as the “fulcrum” of the Opposition parties in India. Mamata Banerjee has recently said that “UPA does not exist” and that there is “No UPA”. Even the TMC mouth piece Jago Bangla has on several recent occasions attacked the Congress as “war-tired” party.
Mamata Banerjee on her recent visit to Delhi also did not go to meet Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi, unlike her previous visits where she would make sure to pay a courtesy visit to her residence. Asked by reporters, Mamata Banerjee had then said that it was not her duty and that she was not bound by any constitutional obligation to visit SoniaI every time she is in Delhi.
Ashok Bhattacharya, Congress spokesperson from Bengal, told The Sunday Guardian said that Mamata Banerjee has back-stabbed the Congress and that the Congress had done a lot for her and she should not forget about that.
“Mamata Banerjee has betrayed the Congress. If she thinks she can form Opposition unity without the Congress, she is dreaming. She is taking in all left out leaders of the Congress and on the contrary look at the youths who are joining the Congress—Kanahiya Kumar, Jignesh Mevani, etc. Mamata Banerjee should remember that Shiv Sena and NCP have already indicated that without the Congress, there cannot be a united Opposition,” Ashok Bhattacharya told this newspaper.