With attacks on Congress, TMC keen on leading Opposition alliance

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) seems to be in no mood to let the Congress lead the proposed anti-BJP alliance of opposition parties for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Riding high on its success of defeating the saffron party in the last Assembly election in West Bengal, the TMC is keen on putting party supremo Mamata Banerjee in the driver’s seat of the alliance. The blistering attacks on the Congress in TMC’s mouthpiece Jago Bangla focusing on its leadership crisis and electoral failure made it evident.

First, in a front-page article in its mouthpiece on September 17, the TMC questioned Rahul Gandhi’s leadership credentials and accused him of failing to become a credible alternative to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It indicated that Mamata was way ahead in both terms of electoral success and leadership ability.

The article quoted Leader of the TMC in the Lok Sabha Sudip Bandyopadhay stating that, “Mamata Banerjee has to lead the country.” It clearly shows that the party wants her to be the Prime Ministerial candidate.

It stated that with Mamata as “a strong, credible face” the acceptability of the opposition alliance will increase and the results of the last two Lok Sabha election will not be repeated.

A more scathing attack from the TMC came in an editorial of Jago Bangla on September 25 where the party made it clear that it no longer considers the Congress as the main challenger against the BJP.

Dubbing the Congress as a “rotting irrelevant puddle,” the TMC said that if the Congress fails to understand its shortcoming through introspection then it will take up the grand old party’s role in national politics. By claiming that it is the “real Congress” in Bengal and can be so at the national level too, the TMC gave clear indication that it wants to lead the proposed opposition alliance against the BJP.

Speaking to DH, political analyst Biswanath Chakraborty said “There are two possibilities in this scenario. First, the TMC is trying to take over the declining Congress and establish itself as the ‘real Congress’. There is another question. Is the TMC like Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati in the past trying to disrupt opposition unity as the CBI and ED have become proactive?

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