He said he is ready to accept her leadership in West Bengal and work under her. New Delhi: Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has invited Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee to return to the Congress with her remaining MLAs and MPs.
Banerjee was a Congress leader before she left the party and formed the TMC in 1998.
We would accept her leadership in Bengal and work with her,” he said. In Bengal, we would work under you in Congress,” he said. TMC MP Sougata Roy said Chowdhury had expressed his personal view and that the party would consider the proposal if it came formally from the Congress leadership.
He asked the former West Bengal chief minister to bring the TMC lawmakers still with her back into the Congress. “We would urge Mamata Banerjee to join the Congress along with all the leftover MLAs and MPs. He also appealed to the Congress high command to facilitate such a move. “As she has taken shelter in the Congress-led ‘INDIA’ alliance, she should join the party. The offer has a backstory. The party later built its political base in Bengal by taking on the Congress and the Left Front.
“He (Chowdhury) has said what he felt. The TMC is very much part of the INDIA alliance,” he said. We have nothing to say. The TMC is a separate party now. If the Congress wants to come with an official proposal, we will discuss the matter in the party. The crisis has taken different forms in the assembly and Parliament. Rebel TMC MLAs have sought recognition as the legislative opposition to the BJP government in Bengal. The rebel MPs have taken a separate political route and joined the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), while extending support to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the Centre.
