Mamata Banerjee owes people an apology for allowing BJP’s growth: Adhir Chowdhury

Congress state president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the TMC paved way for BJP's growth in West Bengal through 1999 alliance

Ahead of the upcoming West Bengal elections, state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has said that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is suffering the consequences of her action after “unleashed state machinery” on Opposition parties and “poached MLAs” to debilitate Congress and the Left.

In an interview with The Economic Times, Chowdhury said that the BJP was poaching TMC MPs and legislators in the same “illegal manner” as Mamata had poached MLAs of Congress and Left. “If BJP has established national notoriety for poaching Opposition legislators, Trinamool has acquired regional notoriety for the same,” Chowdhury said.

He added that the CM had deployed Suvendu Adhikari for months in his constituency to defeat him, and now “BJP is making Suvendu do the same against Mamata”.

When asked why Congress, TMC, and the Left cannot come together for the upcoming elections, Chowdhury said that the responsibility was on the CM to reach out to Congress and other parties for an alliance. “Congress and I have repeatedly cautioned her to not become too arrogant after her victory and that one swallow doesn’t make a summer. But she didn’t listen.”

Chowdhury blamed Mamata for the growing foothold of BJP in the state, saying that she owes the people an apology for “opening the political doors of West Bengal to BJP by forging TMC-BJP alliance during the 1999 Lok Sabha Polls”.

He also said by labelling BJP and the RSS nationalist outfits, she has given space to “communal” politics of BJP in Bengal. Chowdhury believes that Mamata allowed BJP to grow by focusing all her efforts on demolishing her opposition in her 10-year-reign.

Upon the possible CPM-Congress alliance, Chowdhury said the high command will take a decision, but the workers of the two parties are already working together as they are victims of TMC’s “reigns of terror”.

“Both Trinamool and BJP are unleashing state power, violence, and huge amounts of money to kick up a lot of dust. We may appear a late starter, in reality, people of Bengal are fed with the divisive and violent politics of Trinamool and BJP,” he said.