Mamata blames CPI(M) for bitter relations between TMC, Congress
KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee, who has withdrawn from the INDIA bloc alliance in West Bengal, blamed the CPI(M) for the bitter relations between her party and the Congress.
Meanwhile, the rear windshield of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s car was smashed in suspected stone-pelting on Wednesday on the Bihar-Bengal border during the second phase of his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra.
The yatra entered West Bengal’s Malda district where CM Mamata Banerjee also addressed a gathering on the same day.
“Rear windscreen of Rahul Gandhi’s car was smashed near Bengal-Bihar border. Someone might have pelted a stone,” said Congress’s West Bengal chapter president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.
Gandhi’s yatra arrived in Harishchandrapur in Malda after a road show in Katihar, Bihar. The Congress leader escaped unhurt in the incident.
After travelling for 38 km in the car with smashed windscreen, Gandhi alighted after reaching the designated spot and inspected the damaged car.
The state police, however, said the windscreen was smashed in Bihar’s Katihar.
“Gandhi was travelling in a bus. As part of the party’s protocol, the state heads of the party exchanged party flag on the rooftop of the bus because of hundreds of supporters assembled there. After reaching Bengal, Gandhi boarded the car as the road was narrow and the damaged rear windscreen was noticed,” said an officer of Malda district police.
Gandhi will enter Jharkhand after touring in Bengal for two days.
Elaborating on her decision to contest alone in all 42 Lok Sabha seats, Mamata held the CPI(M) responsible. “I left the Congress because I was driven out. I had better relations with the Congress. Because of the CPI(M), it turned bitter. The CPI(M) is the BJP’s no. 1 agent. I offered the Congress two seats in Bengal but they wanted more and the BJP would have been benefited. The TMC is the only party which can defeat the CPI(M), BJP and Congress alone in Bengal.”
Also hitting out at the Congress, Mamata said the grand old party used to win two Lok Sabha seats for years. “Even after wining two seats for years, what did the Congress do for you. Former Congress leader Gani Khan Chowdhury had constructed a building Gour Bhavan which is also lying in dilapidated state. The Congress started fighting elections joining hands with the CPI(M) to ensure political dividends for the BJP. So I decided to fight alone,” she said.
In the 2019 general elections, the Congress and the Left party had joined the election fray together.
