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 mentioned his occasion, 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, mentioned his focus could 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, nonetheless, declined to remark when requested whether or not the Congress would prolong help to the TMC if the elections throw up a hung Meeting, and mentioned “hypothetical questions may be answered solely when the necessity arises”.
The state had final witnessed a hung Meeting through the 1967 polls, when the Bangla Congress and the CPI(M) joined arms to type 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, mentioned he would try to strengthen the occasion by bringing again oldtimers, who’ve joined opposition camps.
“Bengal has all the time been revered throughout the nation for its secularism. Over the previous couple of years, nonetheless, each the TMC and the BJP have pursued the politics of communal polarisation, and eclipsed the secular beliefs that the state has all the time held pricey.
“I can guarantee you that the Left Entrance-Congress tie-up could 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 informed PTI.
Sustaining that the state could be encountering a nip-and-tuck battle between three forces in 2021, the senior Congress chief, nonetheless, rebuffed the oft-repeated idea {that a} three-cornered battle often works in favour of the occasion in energy.
“The idea {that a} three-cornered battle tends to assist the ruling occasion just isn’t proper. In politics, two plus two just isn’t all the time 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 might woo them again. The Left-Congress alliance would battle on the plank of growth, 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 occasion had cast ties with the Left Entrance and fought the 2016 state elections.
In the course of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, nonetheless, the proposed Congress-CPI (M) alliance fell aside after each the events had been unable to achieve an settlement on seat sharing.
Claiming that the TMC and the BJP are two sides of a coin, he mentioned the state authorities intentionally pursued appeasement politics to make manner for counter polarisation by the saffron camp.
“The TMC has been an ally of the BJP previously. 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 occasion, mentioned.
The ruling occasion projected itself because the “messiah of the Muslims”, and the BJP because the “protector of the Hindus”, they usually weakened the secular and democratic forces, such because the Congress and the Left, he claimed.
The veteran chief mentioned the “dismal efficiency” of the BJP authorities on the Centre on numerous fronts, reminiscent of financial system, employment and COVID-19 administration, would hang-out the saffron occasion in Bengal through the subsequent meeting polls.
“The BJP has nothing to showcase as they’ve failed miserably when it got here to growth. And through the meeting polls, they might 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 as a result of its bleak efficiency, nationally,” he mentioned.
Admitting that there have been some gaps within the LeftCongress alliance through the 2016 polls, because it was cast in haste, he mentioned 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 preventing by-polls or organising any mass motion.
“We’re on the verge of giving the alliance a ultimate form. The cadres of each the events are additionally in favour of the partnership,” he mentioned.
The Left-Congress alliance had received 76 seats within the 294-member-strong meeting through the 2016 polls. The TMC bagged 211 seats, the BJP simply three.
A whole lot of water, nonetheless, has flown underneath the Howrah Bridge within the final 4 years, because the BJP made deep inroads and emerged as a major challenger of the ruling TMC in Bengal, by pushing the normal 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 surprised 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.
