Mamata Banerjee has accused the Congress’s Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury of wrecking seat talks and preventing Trinamul being part of INDIA in Bengal. In an interview with The Telegraph, Adhir blamed Mamata herself. Excerpts:

Q: Mamata Banerjee is talking of being part of INDIA repeatedly now; so who really stood in the way of sharing seats with her in Bengal?

Adhir: I’m not sure what she has been saying, but it’s easily discernible (from) the chronology. She is talking about INDIA now… it brings me glee. She can understand that INDIA is coming to power. Her saying this indicates her realisation. That is why she is already trying to realign, so that INDIA does not throw her out when she approaches it.

Q: But it is you she often blames.

Adhir: When INDIA was taking shape — in Patna, Bengaluru, Mumbai — Mamata was talking about playing a pioneering role in it; about being the bloc’s principal advocate. That same lady — if you have the courage, do go ask her — for what reason did she do something similar to (what JDU chief) Nitish Kumar (had done)? First Nitish, then Mamata. Why?

Nitish had his reasons, he wanted to form his own government (in Bihar)…. Mamata Banerjee already had that here. So what forced her to abandon INDIA? Why did she renounce it? What triggered the move?

Then, all the mockery of INDIA, jeering at Rahul Gandhi, ridiculing the Congress — the lady did it.

Gaddar (traitor) Number One, Mamata Banerjee. Gaddar Number Two, Mamata Banerjee. Gaddar Number Three, Mamata Banerjee.

Q: She also says that INDIA constituent CPM’s aversion to her put a spanner in the works.

Adhir: At every alliance meeting, (CPM general secretary) Sitaram Yechury was present along with Mamata Banerjee and Rahul Gandhi. She did not say anything then.

See, we are not at her mercy. She will aramsey (easily) understand on June 4 what blunder she had committed. That is why she is trying to correct the course now and save herself. Because she is well aware that INDIA is going to form the government at the Centre after the results.

Now she claims she never opposed INDIA. Well, if you really didn’t, go tell the people to vote for the alliance. If you really didn’t, go say so. Go tell the people across the nation to vote for the Congress….

Do not take us for fools, Madam. Perhaps we aren’t capable of writing poems as well as you — “Epang opang jhopang (a line from a poem by Mamata)”. But we certainly are not idiots.

Q: What then, according to you, triggered her move?

Adhir: First, she thought the Congress won’t be able to do anything... (she) said in public that we won’t even get 40 seats. Now, nationally, the situation is turning. A definite environment of disillusionment with Narendra Modi and the BJP-led Centre has emerged. Even Modi has stopped talking about “400 paar”. Didi too, slowly, has started saying, “Let me come to INDIA”. Dhandabaj netri (self-serving leader) Didi, subidhabadi netri (opportunist leader) Didi.

She betrayed INDIA — (after) she had taken pride in naming it, (after she
had) called Rahul Gandhi the leader….

What is your fear, Didi? What is your reason? It must be widely known. There is only one. After you ran away from INDIA, the ED-CBI stopped hounding your party’s Khokababu (a mocking allusion to Trinamul No. 2 Abhishek Banerjee). Thereafter, the candidate fielded by the BJP against your Khokababu ensured he will easily win from Diamond Harbour… a candidate of his choice. A Didi-Modi understanding yielded that candidate selection, so that Khokababu has a cakewalk.

I will not be surprised if, in Bengal, not unlike Nitish, Didi eventually ties up with the BJP for her survival, to form the government here.... Mark my words. Yes, you might think this sounds absurd today, but mark my words.

Q: You seem confident that the Congress will form the next government at the Centre. Which seats will your party win in Bengal?

Adhir: Malda Uttar, Malda Dakshin, Raiganj, Purulia and Birbhum. Besides Behrampore and Jangipur, of course.

(Adhir is eyeing a sixth consecutive Lok Sabha poll win from Behrampore, which votes on May 13. The 68-year-old maverick — some call him flamboyant and others, eccentric — was leader of the Congress in the 17th Lok Sabha. He has been the principal architect of the Congress’s alliance with the Left in Bengal.)

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