Congress candidate Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury waves to supporters while canvassing in Baharampur, Murshidabad. File photo
Aditi Tandon
New Delhi, May 1
Congress’ alliance equations in the INDIA bloc attracted sharp remarks from PM Narendra Modi who said on Wednesday that even the first family of the Congress, the Gandhis, would not be voting for their party in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The PM was speaking after Congress’ INDIA bloc arrangements returned to haunt it with party’s Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury backing the BJP as a better choice than the ruling TMC in West Bengal.
Speaking in Bengal’s Baharampur, which he represents in the outgoing 17th Lok Sabha, Adhir said, “Why vote for the TMC? It is better to vote for the BJP.”
In Delhi, where Congress unit chief Arvinder Singh Lovely has quit citing pressure to expel diehard party leaders who protested a pre-poll alliance with Aam Aadmi Party, two ex-MLAs Neeraj Basoya and Naseeb Singh resigned from the primary membership of the Congress on Wednesday.
Many Delhi Congress workers lamented that even the Gandhis (Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka) will not vote for a Congress candidate this year as the New Delhi Lok Sabha seat, where they are voters, had been ceded to AAP in the pre-poll pact.
Reflecting on the state of Congress, the PM, at a rally in Gujarat’s Banaskantha said, “If you want to form a government, you need at least 272 seats. Except for the BJP, no political party in the country is contesting 272 seats, and they are saying they will form the government. Even the royal family of Delhi (read the Gandhis) is not going to vote for the Congress this time. There is no Congress candidate where they vote. Ahmed Patel’s family in Bharuch will not vote for the Congress. A tall Congress leader (read Shakti Sinh Gohil) who votes in Bhavnagar, will not be able to vote for the Congress. This is the condition of the Congress.”
The Congress has ceded New Delhi LS seat in Delhi and Bharuch and Bhavnagar to AAP as part of the pre-poll alliance within the INDIA group. After Adhir’s comments, the TMC hit back, describing him as the “B-team” of the BJP.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh rushed to damage control and said he wasn’t aware of the context of Adhir’s statements adding: “The goal of the Congress in Bengal is to reduce the BJP numbers and the TMC is very much a part of the INDIA bloc.”
The TMC, however, slammed Adhir saying: “After acting as eyes and ears of the BJP in Bengal, Adhir has now been promoted to being the BJP’s voice in Bengal.”
In the outgoing LS, the Congress has only two MPs from Bengal, Adhir (Bahrampur) and Abu Hasem Khan (Maldaha Dakshin).
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