Senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Adhir Rajan Chowdhury on Wednesday endorsed voting for the BJP in a political rally in West Bengal’s Berhampore. Chowdhury said instead of voting for TMC, one should rather vote for the BJP.
“Why to vote for TMC, better to vote for the BJP,” Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury reputedly said in Bengali during his speech in Behrampore, a video of which has surfaced online.
Even though Congress and other opposition parties have been claiming “unity” under the banner of the ‘INDI’ alliance, the on-ground situation has been a far cry from what the opposition wants the country to believe. Congress and TMC have been at the loggerheads in West Bengal, especially after Mamata Banerjee offered a paltry 2 seats to the INDI alliance, disrupting the talks between the two political parties. The TMC then went ahead and announced candidates on all 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal.
Chowdhury’s persistent criticism of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the state has been regarded as a key factor in the TMC’s decision to withdraw from the INDIA alliance of opposition parties. This move is particularly noteworthy considering Banerjee’s pivotal role in establishing the coalition.
Escalating the rivalry between the Trinamool Congress and Congress in West Bengal, the Mamata Banerjee-led party criticised state Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury this week, suggesting the existence of two separate entities within the Congress – the Indian National Congress and the Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury Congress. TMC’s strong riposte was in response to Chowdhury’s sharp criticism of Banerjee’s decision to nominate former cricketer Yusuf Pathan as the party’s candidate from the Berhampore parliamentary seat. This constituency, historically dominated by Congress and Chowdhury, has seen shifts in political control over the years, including periods of Left Front and TMC rule in the state