Hours after Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge snubbed him, saying that he was “nobody to make decisions” on whether West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee would be a part of the Opposition INDIA bloc or not, state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said on Saturday that he could not welcome a person who wanted “to finish Congress”.
Chowdhury had said earlier that Banerjee was “an opportunist leader” who could not be trusted.
“It is all right. It is my ideological opposition. Someone will try to finish Congress and I will welcome that person, this cannot happen. I have no personal enmity. It is ideological opposition. It is a fight to save my party in West Bengal. I cannot stop this fight because I am a foot soldier of the Congress,” Chowdhury said, speaking at a press conference in Berhampore, Murshidabad.
His statement came hours after Kharge said in a press conference in Mumbai on Saturday, “Mamataji first said she is supporting from outside… recently, another statement came from her that she will be part of the government (at the Centre) if it forms. Naturally, it is clear that she is with the alliance (INDIA).”
Referring to Chowdhury, Kharge said, “He is nobody to make decisions. A decision will be taken by us…Congress party is there, high command is there. That is why whatever decision we take will be right. What we decide, all will follow. If someone does not follow, he will go out.”
Recently, while campaigning during the Lok Sabha elections, Banerjee said she was part of the INDIA alliance though she fought alone in Bengal. Earlier, she had said that she was ready to give outside support to the INDIA alliance if they could form the next government after the Lok Sabha elections.
Chowdhury also accused the BJP and TMC of being hand in glove. “One must not pay much heed to what BJP leaders are saying here. BJP and TMC are complimentary to each other here (in Bengal). During elections, they want to divide and earn political dividends. BJP did not put up a strong candidate against ‘Khoka Babu’ (TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee). Why? There are so many leaders in the BJP. Why was a soft candidate put up against him? What signal is [PM Narendra] Modi giving? Is it of ‘samjhauta’ (compromise)?” Chowdhury said.