Congress rejects Mamata Banerjee's unity call: 'Did not support Rahul Gandhi'

Days after the Congress party registered a massive victory in the Karnataka Assembly polls pushing the BJP out of power in the southern state, Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee extended her support to the grand old party signalling a possible tie-up for the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha polls. However, her support was not welcomed by the Congress party and ruled out any such possibility stating, “We will always fight against Mamata and TMC's corruption in Bengal.” 

Stating that regional parties should get together to play a significant role in the 2024 polls to fight against the BJP, the TMC supremo said, “Wherever is Congress strong, let them fight. We (TMC) will give support to them, there is nothing wrong in that. But Congress also needs to back other parties.”

"Whoever is strong in some place, in their region, they should fight together. Let's take Bengal. In Bengal, we (Trinamool) should fight. In Delhi, AAP should fight. In Bihar, Nitish ji , Tejashwi Yadav and Congress are together. In Chennai, they (MK Stalin's DMK and Congress) have a friendship and they can fight together."

Accusing the grand old party of attacking her, she added, “I extended my support to Congress in Karnataka, but they are fighting against me every single day. This should not be their strategy.” 

Meanwhile, Congress remained defiant to take Mamata’s support and slammed her for changing her stance against the party following the Karnataka poll results, where the party registered a big win bagging 135 seats in the 244-member Assembly. 

"We have won in Karnataka, and Mamata now feels that she needs the support of Congress. Have you heard this stand from Mamata before the Karnataka elections? Mamata Banerjee did not support Rahul Gandhi in the past. She did not come to Rahul's favour when he was disqualified as an MP,” West Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said. 

BJP attacks Mamata

Meanwhile, the BJP has asserted that Mamata Banerjee is trying to gain the support of the Congress to fight the saffron party in West Bengal as it is the Opposition in the state. The BJP also accused the West Bengal Chief Minister of trying to gain support as her party has lost the status of national party. 

Speaking to Republic, BJP leader Priyanka Tibrewal said, “She is not afraid of Congress as the party has no presence in West Bengal. The party is not even a national party now. It has lost its status of being a national party in April."