Kolkata, 04 November (H.S.) : Former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s recent declaration, “My leader, Sonia Gandhi!” at an opposition rally at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi may have conveyed a message of political bonhomie between the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Congress.

However, senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has made it clear that there will be no softening in his opposition to the Trinamool supremo in West Bengal. Addressing a press conference at the district Congress office in Baharampur on Wednesday, within 72 hours of Banerjee's remarks, Chowdhury reiterated his uncompromising stance against the TMC. He alleged that the atrocities committed by the party over the past 15 years have severely crippled the Congress's organizational framework in the state. He asserted that the Congress has been devastated by the atrocities of the Trinamool Congress and that their organizational structure has crumbled due to oppression. Stating that these were not mere mistakes, he firmly declared that he is not backing down even an inch from his opposition to Mamata Banerjee.

Although Chowdhury ruled out any shift in his personal political stance towards Banerjee, he refrained from making a definitive statement regarding the future of the alliance. He stated that he cannot predict the future, noting that it depends on the decisions of the national leadership while also taking the views of the state leadership into account. He added that he would wait to see how circumstances take shape before speaking further on the matter. His remarks have once again highlighted the apparent disconnect between the political signals emanating from the Congress's national leadership and the prevailing sentiment within the party's state unit in Bengal.

Chowdhury has consistently been one of Mamata Banerjee's most vocal political adversaries in the state. While the TMC has occasionally adopted a relatively softer approach toward the Congress at the national level, the Bengal TMC leadership, operating from Kalighat and Camac Street, has shown no such political accommodation toward Chowdhury.

His steadfast opposition to Banerjee and the TMC played a pivotal role in bringing the Congress and the Left Front closer during the 2016 and 2021 Assembly elections, as well as the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. It is noteworthy that Chowdhury faced electoral defeats from his traditional stronghold, the Baharampur seat, in both the 2024 Lok Sabha and the 2026 Assembly elections amid intense political polarization. He has repeatedly alleged that the TMC deliberately fielded former cricketer Yusuf Pathan, bringing him all the way from Gujarat, specifically to consolidate minority votes against him.

Hindusthan Samachar / Satya Prakash Singh