Congress to fight alone in West Bengal: Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury

Murshidabad (West Bengal): News Summary

• Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury calls for an official statement on the alliance
• Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury says TMC grapples with internal divisions over minority vote concerns
• Ongoing dialogues hinted as TMC struggles with alliance decisions
• Uncertainty looms as TMC faces dilemmas in shaping alliance strategy

Claiming that the ruling Trinamool Congress is in a "dilemma" over the alliance, West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said on Saturday that the grand old party will contest the forthcoming parliamentary elections in the state "alone."

Addressing a press conference at the Congress party office in Murshidabad, Chowdhury stated, "We have said this many times: Congress will fight alone in West Bengal."

"They (TMC) are in a dilemma. There should be an official yes or no from the party Supremo (Mamata Banerjee). They are not stating officially that the process of forging the alliance has ended. Because they are in a dilemma," the state Congress chief explained.

He further mentioned that TMC is unable to decide on the alliance due to their dilemma, hinting at ongoing dialogues between the parties.

"The first dilemma is that a section of the party believes that if they contest alone, without the INDIA alliance, then the minorities of West Bengal will vote against them. One section of the TMC wants the alliance to continue. Another section is in another dilemma that if the alliance is given more importance in Bengal, then the Modi government will use ED and CBI against them. Due to these two dilemmas, the TMC has not been able to make a clear decision.

Maybe there are some talks in Delhi, but I don't have any such information," he said.

(With ANI inputs)