Kolkata: West Bengal Congress president Somen Mitra said his party won’t seek support from Mamata Banerjee-led TMC to form the next government or support her bid to become the prime minister in case the general election results throw up a hung Parliament.
Terming Ms Banerjee the “biggest and most-trusted ally” of RSS-BJP, Mr Mitra said in an interview that she and her party lack credibility as an anti-BJP force.
He claimed Ms Banerjee has kept her “options open” to help BJP, if required, post polls.
“I can say this with full responsibility that Congress won’t seek support from Mamata Banerjee or TMC to form the next government in case we fall short of majority.
“We won’t need her support. We would form the government on our own with UPA allies. UPA would get a comfortable majority,” Mr Mitra said.
Ms Banerjee has often claimed that Congress won’t be able to form the government on its own without her support. She had organised a rally of Opposition parties in Kolkata in January but it was not attended by Congress president Rahul Gandhi, its likely PM candidate.
Congress had sent party leaders Abhishek Singhvi and Mallikarjun Kharge and a letter of support from Gandhi to Banerjee’s “United India” rally.
Asked if Congress would support Ms Banerjee for prime ministership, Mr Mitra said Congress would neither seek Ms Banerjee’s support “nor would it support her prime ministership”.
“Why does she need us,” he wondered, possibly knowing that Congress support could be needed in case of a hung Parliament.
“TMC’s every step is a calculated move to help BJP in Bengal and in pan-India politics. She is the biggest and most-trusted ally of BJP,” he said, adding that Ms Banerjee should first clear whether she would support BJP or not in case it falls short of majority and Narendra Modi is no longer its PM candidate.
“It is an open secret in Bengal that TMC is having an understanding with BJP-RSS. She doesn’t have credibility in the fight against BJP and RSS, rather she has kept her options to help BJP in a post-poll scenario,” the 77-year-old Congress president said.
Referring to Ms Banerjee’s claim that Congress has joined hands with RSS-BJP in Malda and Murshidabad district — strongholds of Congress, Mr Mitra termed the allegations baseless.
He said she is “deliberately making allegations and attacking Congress and other secular forces to polarise minority votes in her favour.”
Mitra had moved to TMC in 2008 and returned to his parent party in 2014.
