Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has been appointed as the new head of the West Bengal Congress
Calcutta:
Congress wants to join the left in taking on the BJP and Trinamool Congress in the upcoming Bengal Assembly elections, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said at his first press conference since becoming head of the party’s state unit. .
Appointed on Wednesday night, Mr. Chowdhury also called on all secular forces to come together to take on the BJP, but notably did not include the ruling Trinamool in this invitation.
In 2016, Chowdhury, who is also the leader of his party in the Lok Sabha, was the architect of a deal that benefited Congress but not the left. Today, he said he wanted to revive that relationship.
“We want to turn a political understanding with the left into an electoral understanding and not yield one iota to the TMC or the BJP in the next elections,” he said.
“All secular people must unite under the umbrella of Congress, as it has never compromised its secular principles. That is the historical truth today, yesterday and tomorrow,” he declared.
“The political unity between Congress and the left must become an electoral unity to give Trinamool a zabardast (mighty) fight, “Chowdhury said.
The deputy from Berhampore, Murshidabad district, is a well-known critic of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
By appointing him to head the Bengal Congress just before the Assembly elections, the party leadership seems to send a clear message that it wants nothing to do with Trinamool.
However, about a fortnight ago, Acting Head of Congress Sonia Gandhi and Ms Banerjee co-chaired a meeting of opposition chief ministers to confront the BJP on the NEET and JEE issue.
That meeting sparked speculation that the two sides could negotiate an agreement, if not an alliance, to fight together in state elections.
Agreement or no deal, Chowdhury’s proposal for unity in the Left Congress was met with derision by both Trinamool and the BJP.
“Workers from both parties know that the Congress-Left deal will not work. That is why they left their parties and joined us last time,” said Dilip Ghosh of the BJP, adding: “It will happen again this time.”
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