Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has been appointed the brand new chief of West Bengal Congress (File)
Kolkata:
Newly appointed state Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Sunday stated his get together, along with the Left, will show to be a “game-changer” within the 2021 Bengal Meeting elections, and warned the ruling TMC and the BJP that the competition will not be a cakewalk for them.
Mr Chowdhury, a bitter critic of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, stated his focus can be to eat into the vote share of each the TMC and the BJP, and restore secular ethos within the state, which has lengthy been “overshadowed by the sectarian politics” practised by the 2 events.
He, nevertheless, declined to remark when requested whether or not the Congress would lengthen assist to the TMC if the elections throw up a hung Meeting, and stated “hypothetical questions will be answered solely when the necessity arises”.
The state had final witnessed a hung Meeting in the course of the 1967 polls, when the Bangla Congress and the CPI(M) joined arms to kind the federal government.
Holding the “appeasement politics” of the TMC authorities accountable for the rise of the BJP in Bengal, Mr Chowdhury, the Chief of the Congress in Lok Sabha, stated he would try to strengthen the get together by bringing again oldtimers, who’ve joined opposition camps.
“Bengal has at all times been revered throughout the nation for its secularism. Over the previous couple of years, nevertheless, each the TMC and the BJP have pursued the politics of communal polarisation, and eclipsed the secular beliefs that the state has at all times held pricey.
“I can guarantee you that the Left Entrance-Congress tie-up can be a game-changer in Bengal politics. Not like 2019 Lok Sabha polls, I will not let the 2021 meeting elections be a cakewalk for the TMC and the BJP, Mr Chowdhury instructed PTI.
Sustaining that the state can be encountering a nip-and-tuck combat between three forces in 2021, the senior Congress chief, nevertheless, rebuffed the oft-repeated idea that a three-cornered combat normally works in favour of the get together in energy.
“The speculation that a three-cornered combat tends to assist the ruling get together just isn’t proper. In politics, two plus two just isn’t at all times 4. We’ll minimize into anti-incumbency vote share, in addition to the TMC vote financial institution.
“Many Congress loyalists have shifted their allegiance to different events over the previous few years. We’d woo them again. The Left-Congress alliance would combat on the plank of improvement, corruption-free governance,” he asserted.
Mr Chowdhury had earlier served because the West Bengal Pradesh Congress (WBPCC) chief from 2014 to 2018. Below his management, the get together had solid ties with the Left Entrance and fought the 2016 state elections.
In the course of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, nevertheless, the proposed Congress-CPI (M) alliance fell aside after each the events had been unable to succeed in an settlement on seat sharing.
Claiming that the TMC and the BJP are two sides of a coin, he stated the state authorities intentionally pursued appeasement politics to make approach for counter polarisation by the saffron camp.
“The TMC has been an ally of the BJP up to now. It was the TMC, which introduced the BJP to Bengal within the late nineties. It did nothing for the event of the Muslims, however pursued appeasement politics and destroyed the secular cloth of the state,” Mr Chowdhury, a vocal detractor of the Mamata Banerjee-led get together, stated.
The ruling get together projected itself because the “messiah of the Muslims”, and the BJP because the “protector of the Hindus”, and so they weakened the secular and democratic forces, such because the Congress and the Left, he claimed.
The veteran chief stated the “dismal efficiency” of the BJP authorities on the Centre on numerous fronts, resembling economic system, employment and COVID-19 administration, would hang-out the saffron get together in Bengal in the course of the subsequent meeting polls.
“The BJP has nothing to showcase as they’ve failed miserably when it got here to improvement. And in the course of the meeting polls, they’d not have any surgical strike to speak about… Together with a surging anti-incumbency wave in opposition to the TMC within the state, the winds are additionally blowing in opposition to the BJP attributable to its bleak efficiency, nationally,” he stated.
Admitting that there have been some gaps within the LeftCongress alliance in the course of the 2016 polls, because it was solid in haste, he stated efforts are underway to repair them.
Each the Left and the Congress, following their poor present within the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, have been working collectively — be it combating by-polls or organising any mass motion.
“We’re on the verge of giving the alliance a remaining form. The cadres of each the events are additionally in favour of the partnership,” he stated.
The Left-Congress alliance had received 76 seats within the 294-member-strong meeting in the course of the 2016 polls. The TMC bagged 211 seats, the BJP simply three.
Loads of water, nevertheless, has flown underneath the Howrah Bridge within the final 4 years, because the BJP made deep inroads and emerged as a primary challenger of the ruling TMC in Bengal, by pushing the standard opposition events, the CPI (M) and the Congress, to distant third and fourth positions.
The saffron camp reached its all-time excessive in Bengal politics final yr when it shocked pundits by bagging 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats within the state, 4 lower than the ruling TMC, and with a staggering vote share of 41 per cent votes.
Source link
