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Kolkata:
Newly appointed state Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Sunday mentioned his celebration, along with the Left, will show to be a “game-changer” within the 2021 Bengal Assembly 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 Assembly, and mentioned “hypothetical questions can be answered only when the need arises”.
The state had final witnessed a hung Assembly through the 1967 polls, when the Bangla Congress and the CPI(M) joined fingers 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 Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha, mentioned he would attempt to strengthen the celebration by bringing again oldtimers, who’ve joined opposition camps.
“Bengal has always been revered across the country for its secularism. Over the last few years, however, both the TMC and the BJP have pursued the politics of communal polarisation, and eclipsed the secular ideals that the state has always held dear.
“I can guarantee you that the Left Front-Congress tie-up could be a game-changer in Bengal politics. Unlike 2019 Lok Sabha polls, I will not let the 2021 meeting elections be a cakewalk for the TMC and the BJP, Mr Chowdhury advised PTI.
Maintaining that the state could be encountering a nip-and-tuck struggle between three forces in 2021, the senior Congress chief, nonetheless, rebuffed the oft-repeated principle {that a} three-cornered struggle normally works in favour of the celebration in energy.
“The theory that a three-cornered fight tends to help the ruling party is not right. In politics, two plus two is not always four. We will cut into anti-incumbency vote share, as well as the TMC vote bank.
“Many Congress loyalists have shifted their allegiance to different events over the previous few years. We would woo them again. The Left-Congress alliance would struggle on the plank of improvement, corruption-free governance,” he asserted.
Mr Chowdhury had earlier served as the West Bengal Pradesh Congress (WBPCC) chief from 2014 to 2018. Under his leadership, the party had forged ties with the Left Front and fought the 2016 state elections.
During the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, however, the proposed Congress-CPI (M) alliance fell apart after both the parties were unable to reach an agreement on seat sharing.
Claiming that the TMC and the BJP are two sides of a coin, he said the state government deliberately pursued appeasement politics to make way for counter polarisation by the saffron camp.
“The TMC has been an ally of the BJP prior 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 material of the state,” Mr Chowdhury, a vocal detractor of the Mamata Banerjee-led party, said.
The ruling party projected itself as the “messiah of the Muslims”, and the BJP as the “protector of the Hindus”, and they weakened the secular and democratic forces, such as the Congress and the Left, he claimed.
The veteran leader said the “dismal efficiency” of the BJP government at the Centre on various fronts, such as economy, employment and COVID-19 management, would haunt the saffron party in Bengal during the next assembly polls.
“The BJP has nothing to showcase as they’ve failed miserably when it got here to improvement. And through the meeting polls, they’d not have any surgical strike to speak about… Along 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 consequence of its bleak efficiency, nationally,” he said.
Admitting that there were some gaps in the LeftCongress alliance during the 2016 polls, as it was forged in haste, he said efforts are underway to fix them.
Both the Left and the Congress, following their poor show in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, have been working together — be it fighting by-polls or organising any mass movement.
“We are on the verge of giving the alliance a last form. The cadres of each the events are additionally in favour of the partnership,” he mentioned.
The Left-Congress alliance had gained 76 seats within the 294-member-strong meeting through the 2016 polls. The TMC bagged 211 seats, the BJP simply three.
Lots of water, nonetheless, has flown below the Howrah Bridge within the final 4 years, because the BJP made deep inroads and emerged as a first-rate 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 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.
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