Will start resolute fight against TMC in West Bengal, says Congress state president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury

West Bengal Congress President Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Thursday said that after the Covid-19 pandemic comes under control, the Congress will start a “resolute fight” against the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the state.

Addressing his first press conference in Kolkata after becoming the state Congress president for the second time, Chowdhury said that Congress will not concede any ground to the TMC and the BJP in Bengal.

“The Congress will start a resolute fight against the TMC in West Bengal after the Covid-19 pandemic comes under control. I want to make it very clear that we will not concede even an inch of ground to the TMC and the BJP in Bengal,” said Chowdhury.

As for the continuation of the alliance between the CPI(M)-led Left Front and the Congress in the state, he said that the Congress never changed its stand regarding it but it was the CPI(M) that had second thoughts about it.

He said that after the 2016 Assembly election, the CPI(M) thought that entering into an alliance with the Congress was not very fruitful and that it should contest elections on its own strength.

“But now the situation is changing. The CPI(M) and the Congress are once again jointly organizing political movements. The mutual understanding between the two parties has increased,” said Chowdhury.

His comments come at a time when the bonhomie between Congress President Sonia Gandhi and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee during a recent virtual meeting of opposition leaders on NEET and JEE has generated speculation whether the two parties will once again join forces in Bengal to keep the BJP at bay in the state.

The TMC first came to power in the state in the 2011 Assembly elections with the Congress as its alliance partner. The alliance turned out to be short-lived once the government was formed. Moreover, Chowdhury is known for his anti-Mamata stand and has never keen on any kind of alliance with the TMC.