“At the all-India level, some people have misunderstood my statement from yesterday. I am very much part of the INDIA alliance. The INDIA alliance was my brainchild. We are together at the national level and will continue to be together,” the West Bengal chief minister said while campaigning for her party in Tamluk on Thursday.
She, however, tried to make a distinction between the alliance with the INDIA bloc partners at the state and the national level, by accusing the CPI(M) and Congress – the constituents of the INDIA bloc – of being “with the BJP” in West Bengal.
“Do not count on the CPI(M) and the Congress in Bengal. They are not with us. They are with the BJP here (Bengal). I am talking about that (INDIA bloc) in Delhi,” she quickly added as she exhorted people to vote “only for the TMC” in the ongoing Lok Sabha election.
Mamata’s change of stance came soon after West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury accused her of being an “opportunist” and alleged that she could “also align with the BJP”.
“Don’t trust her. She left the INDIA alliance and ran away. She can also go towards the BJP… She is an opportunist leader and wants to extend support now as she knows that the INDIA bloc is leading in the elections. She now understands that the alliance support will help her… She is going to be isolated,” Chowdhury told mediapersons in Kolkata.
“They (TMC) were talking about destroying the Congress and that we would not get more than 40 seats. But now she is saying this. This means that the Congress and the INDIA alliance are coming to power,” he added.
Bengal CPI(M) leaders too slammed Mamata. Senior party leader and Dum Dum candidate Sujan Chakraborty said it showed the TMC chief’s “double standards”. “She wants to keep both doors open. On the one hand, she is assuring INDIA bloc parties of her support. On the other hand, she is messaging PM Modi that she will only provide ‘outside support’. This is a balancing act. She will take whichever side suits her interests,” said Chakraborty.
Having rejected the INDIA bloc before the Lok Sabha polls, as well as any seat-sharing adjustment with the Left Front and Congress, the TMC chief on Wednesday said her party would provide “outside support” to the Opposition alliance in case it manages to form a government at the Centre.
“The BJP has lost in the first four phases of the election. There is no chance of it winning in the remaining three… Many people are making big calculations. I am talking about Delhi. We will provide leadership to the INDIA alliance, and help them in every way from outside, so that my mother and sisters in Bengal don’t face any difficulties; so that the beneficiaries of the 100 days’ work scheme do not face any difficulties,” Mamata had said on Wednesday at a TMC rally in Chinsurah in Hooghly district.
It was a significant move mid-campaign, in which the TMC chief has been aggressive against all the three parties in Bengal.
According to party insiders, the announcement of “outside support to the INDIA bloc” was with an eye on the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections. “Even if she is a part of the INDIA bloc, she wants to send out the message that she would remain at a distance. At the same time, she does not want to oppose the alliance as it would hurt her anti-BJP stance,” a TMC leader said.
Mamata’s comments also came against the backdrop of the BJP accusing her of “wishing a majboor (weak) Central government, while the people wanted a mazboot (stable) government”. By promising support to the INDIA bloc, she wants to convey that an Opposition alliance government would not necessarily be “weak”, sources said.
Meanwhile, BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari, who is also the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the state Assembly, said: “The TMC is in no position to play a decisive role in the formation of any government at the Centre. They are living in a fool’s paradise. I appeal to voters not to waste their votes by supporting the TMC. The BJP will come to power again with full majority.”