Kolkata: A day after former Congress MP Adhir Chowdhury said Mamata Banerjee should rejoin Congress without her baggage (read Abhishek Banerjee) and lead it in Bengal, Trinamool on Friday threw down the gauntlet back at Chowdhury, asking Congress and Left to join hands with it to “protect booths” in the Rejinagar bypolls on Oct 6.Chowdhury again posted on X on Friday: “Mamata Banerjee came from Congress. Congress stood by her at crucial political stages — 2001, 2009 and 2011. Even today, whenever political cooperation is required, she reaches out to Madam Sonia Gandhi and the Congress leadership. Her support for the Congress candidate in Nandigram is welcome. The same friendly gesture should be extended to our Congress candidate in Rejinagar.”Admitting that there was “a difficult past”, Chowdhury added: “Congress workers in Bengal faced attacks and intimidation, our organisation was weakened and elected representatives crossed over to TMC. Their sentiment, trust and acceptance cannot be ignored. But if Mamata Banerjee genuinely wants to return to Congress with her MPs and MLAs, we are prepared to work under her leadership in Bengal. The door is open for her return — but she must come without the ‘baggage’.”Trinamool MP Sougata Ray dismissed this as Chowdhury’s personal opinion. “This is his personal opinion. In Trinamool, we first discuss such issues internally before arriving at a decision,” he said.Rejinagar, a Muslim-majority seat, is witnessing a multi-cornered contest within the opposition, with Congress, both factions of Trinamool, Left, AJUP and ISF fighting separately, threatening to split non-BJP votes.Speaking to reporters, TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh, who is campaigning in Rejinagar, said: “At a time when Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge are speaking with Mamata Banerjee regarding a larger anti-BJP coalition, what others say should not matter much.”“What matters is that Congress and Left speak against BJP in one voice and join us to protect the booths on Oct 6. There is widespread concern that BJP will not allow people to vote. We need to thwart that. Let people vote for whoever they want — Trinamool, Congress or Left in Rejinagar. Let us prove our intent to take on BJP. Rejinagar has a chance to rewrite history,” he added.Chowdhury’s statement also drew a cautious response from Pradesh Congress chief Subhankar Sarkar, who said Banerjee was welcome to join Congress, provided she “accepts the proposal” and “changes her ways”.Asked if Banerjee could lead the opposition alliance, Sarkar said the immediate question was whether she would accept the proposal. “Only then can we discuss the question of leadership,” he said.“Congress has never shut its doors on anyone as it is the only umbrella that can unite the secular opposition against BJP. But she has to change her ways. Her prolonged association with her own party has distanced her from Congress’s core philosophy,” Sarkar added.“Rahul Gandhi is fighting BJP and RSS and has emerged as face of the opposition. Any political party that wants to be a part of that fight is welcome. We had appealed to opposition parties for a collective fight after nominating candidates for Nandigram and Rejinagar,” he said.Banerjee extended her support to the Congress candidate in Nandigram after her party’s candidate, Sanchita Pradhan Dey, withdrew her nomination.“She (Mamata) changed her ways earlier and paved the way for BJP in Bengal. Rahul Gandhi had criticised her role in govt for that very reason. We will welcome her if she decides to carry the Congress flag again, but she must change her ways for that to happen,” said Sarkar.
