KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress on Thursday took on Congress but made it clear that they were still willing “to keep egos aside” and “walk the extra mile” to take on BJP in Goa.
The party also rubbished statements attributed to Congress leader P Chidambaram suggesting that TMC never approached it for alliance talks. TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said party national vice-president Pavan Verma had met Chidambaram at his Lodhi Road residence in Delhi on December 24 at 1.30pm, urging all opposition parties to come on board against BJP.
While all opposition parties have pitched in the Goa assembly polls announcing their initial candidate lists, the withdrawal of nominations is on January 31 for the polls to be held on February 14.
Trinamool, which is fighting in Goa with the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) with a 31-9 alliance formula for the 40-seat assembly, has till now only declared a candidate list of 11, fielding two ex-chief ministers, Luizinho Faleiro and Churchill Alemao.
“The Congress is trying to set a narrative that TMC has come to Goa to split anti-BJP votes. This is misleading and wrong,” Abhishek said at a press conference in Goa. “CM Mamata Banerjee had given a call to all opposition parties to come together in this fight against the BJP. MGP responded and we are fighting in an alliance. We had approached Congress. It is they who should explain why they couldn’t rise above petty personal and political interests for the people of Goa. If our intent was to split votes, why would we choose BJP-governed Goa and not a Congress-governed Punjab? TMC is fighting in Goa and Tripura which are governed by BJP and in Meghalaya which is governed by NDA allies,” he said.
“Congress has failed to live up to the people’s mandate in Goa. In 2017, they had 17 MLAs, but BJP formed the government. Why? BJP and Congress are in cohorts. They are in a non-formal alliance. On the other hand, CM Mamata Banerjee has given BJP its worst electoral defeat in recent times. Bengal has rejected BJP’s politics of hatred and division. Goa will do it too. The difference between TMC and Congress is that for the last seven years we have been defeating BJP and in those seven years Congress has been losing to BJP. We hope Mr Chidambaram will hold on to the moral high ground once the results are out on March 10,” Abhishek said.
On the possible unease on Faleiro being asked to vacate a seat he held, he said, “He is a stalwart. He was the first leader to take the party flag from Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata. And look at who he is taking on: Vijay Sardesai. He is leading from the front.”
Abhishek said that TMC will soon announce other candidates, but refused to spell out a time-frame. The last day for filing nominations in Goa is January 28.
