West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday clarified that her party is still a part of the Opposition’s INDIA bloc.
Her statement comes a day after she said that her party would extend support to the INDIA bloc from outside to form the government at the Centre. However, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said that Mamata Banerjee “left the alliance and ran away”.
Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said that the Trinamool Congress was part of INDIA bloc in Delhi, but clarified that there is no alliance between the Congress, CPM, and her party in Bengal.
“Attempts by the Congress and CPI(M), fuelled by BJP funds, to divide votes should be resisted. Do not vote for them here. I’ve made it clear that there’s no alliance in Bengal, but we are aligned in Delhi. We will remain so,” Mamata Banerjee said during an election rally in Haldia.
“I founded the INDIA alliance and will continue to support it. There should be no misunderstanding about that,” she added.
However, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury expressed his distrust of the Trinamool Congress chief, saying that she has already left the alliance.
“I don’t trust her. She left the alliance and ran away. She can also go towards the BJP… They were talking about destroying the Congress party and that Congress would not get more than 40 seats but now she is saying that it means that the Congress party and the alliance are coming to power,” Chowdhury said.
WILL SEEK JUSTICE FOR 2021 LOSS: MAMATA BANERJEE
During the same rally, Mamata Banerjee criticised the BJP for the outcome of the Nandigram seat in the 2021 Assembly elections, expressing her belief that she was unfairly defeated and vowed to seek retribution.
Though the Trinamool Congress had won in the 2021 Assembly elections, Mamata Banerjee had lost in Nandigram, where her former aide-turned-BJP candidate Suvendu Adhikari defeated her by a narrow margin after several rounds of counting.
“With the assistance of the Election Commission of India, the BJP changed the District Magistrate and Superintendent of Police. On polling day, they orchestrated a power outage, leading to a change in the results. I will seek justice for this injustice, be it tomorrow or the future. BJP will not stay forever, nor will agencies like the CBI or ED. My case is still pending in court, and I will seek justice. This isn’t the verdict of the people of Nandigram,” asserted Mamata Banerjee.