Adhir Chowdhury on warpath over post-poll Cong relationship with Trinamool

Kolkata: West Bengal Congress President and five-time Lok Sabha member, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Saturday virtually rebelled against the high command over the issue of the party’s post-poll relationship with the Trinamool Congress.

The root of the internal feud is a statement by Congress National President Mallikarjun Kharge to media persons at Lucknow on Saturday that Chowdhury was no one to decide the measures to be adopted for government formation after the polls.

Kharge said that the party high command would decide on that if the situation arose.

Kharge went to the extent of saying that leaders will have to fall in line with the decision of the party high command or they will have to step down.

Giving his reaction to Kharge’s statement, Chowdhury said that being a member of the Congress Working Committee he is part of the high command.

Political observers say that from these exchanges, it is clear that the Congress high command might go soft on the Trinamool Congress and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, but Chowdhury is not ready to accept that.

The Trinamool Congress leadership here has started highlighting Kharge’s remarks as an acceptance of the fact that in West Bengal only Mamata Banerjee’s party can take on the BJP, which the Chief Minister had been claiming for quite some time.

Significantly, on Friday Chowdhury reacted harshly to the Chief Minister’s recent comments on providing outside support to a probable INDIA bloc government after the polls.

He said, “I do not trust her. She broke away from the INDIA bloc. Now she is trying to unite with us as she realises that we are becoming stronger nationally.”

Observers say that the fresh internal differences within the Congress over the Trinamool Congress might spice up the political space in West Bengal in the days to come.