INDIA must introspect on why Didi, Hemant beat BJP but Cong fails: TMC
Times of India | 25 November 2024
Kolkata: Bolstered by its six-nil victory in the Bengal bypolls, Trinamool on Sunday urged for "introspection" in INDIA bloc on why Mamata Banerjee or Hemant Soren could defeat BJP, but Congress failed, first in Haryana and now Maharashtra. The party also said if Banerjee's Lakshmir Bhandar could be translated into electoral successes, why should not her "experience" be used as the "nucleus" of an anti-BJP alliance.IPL 2025 mega auctionIPL Auction 2025 Live: KKR break bank for Venkatesh Iyer, Ashwin returns to CSKIPL 2025 Auction LIVE: Updated Full Team SquadsIPL Auction 2025: Who got whom
MP Kalyan Banerjee urged Congress to "shun ego" and "accept CM Banerjee as the face of INDIA bloc", Trinamool Congress only said it agreed with the "spirit" of what he said.
Banerjee, a senior lawyer and TMC's Lok Sabha chief whip, told reporters: "Despite repeated losses, why are they (Congress) not shunning their ego and giving the responsibility to CM Mamata Banerjee? Only she can sound the death knell for BJP."
Asked whether the MP's statement was the official party position, former Rajya Sabha MP Kunal Ghosh said: "Kalyan Banerjee is a senior politician. We will not comment on what he said. But we can only say that we endorse the spirit in which he said it."
"Under Mamata Banerj-ee's leadership, Trinamool has repeatedly defeated BJP in Bengal. This could be achieved in Jharkhand also. Then why could it not be done in Haryana or Maharashtra? In Maharashtra, Congress was supposed to halt BJP... If the reason for this loss is not discussed in the INDIA bloc meeting, then how can the alliance be strengthened," Ghosh said, adding: "Mamata Banerjee stopped BJP in the 2021 assembly polls, in the 2023 panchayat polls and increased the number (of seats) in 2024 Lok Sabha. Hemant Soren was jailed, he returned to defeat BJP."
Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien also weighed in, saying: "There is something right in what she (CM Banerjee) is doing. Why else is she having repeated poll successes?"
Ghosh said: "Mamata Banerjee's development model of Lakshmir Bhandar has been copied in Maharashtra. Jharkhand too has proposed something on these lines. If her model can be copied by everyone, then why shouldn't her experience be the nucleus of this anti-BJP alliance."
Asked about Congress's reasoning that it had more MPs than other opposition parties, Ghosh shot back: "Why did Congress then support HD Deve Gowda (as Prime Minister) in 1996? Why did Congress promise to support Jyoti Basu? Why did they support IK Gujral?"
"It is a fact that Congress is a bigger party, and CM Banerjee has a lot of respect for their brass. But we are now seeing that Congress is failing to stop BJP, whereas others are succeeding. I think if their experience and face are roped in, the results will be better. We are not criticising Congress, but analysing it," he added.