Why Mamata Banerjee Bowled Yusuf Pathan ‘Googly’ Against Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Congress & Team INDIA – News18

It was a straight strike by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) at the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) front and Congress specially, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. Right-handed batsman and right-arm off-break bowler Yusuf Pathan will be the TMC candidate from Behrampore, the seat Chowdhury has been holding for years. Where does this leave him and the INDIA front? Smashed out.

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Congress’s Jairam Ramesh was the first to react. He said: “The Indian National Congress has repeatedly declared its desire to have a respectable seat-sharing agreement with the TMC in West Bengal. The INC has always maintained that such an agreement has to be finalised through negotiations and not by unilateral announcements. The INC always wanted the INDIA group to fight the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) together.”

News18 spoke to Chowdhury, too, for his first reaction. He said, “I have always put up a fight against TMC chief Mamata Banerjee. The way she announced all names shows she is helping the BJP. My fight shall continue.”

CONGRESS’S LEFT TURN

The signs were clear when the Bharat Jodo Yatra 2.0 entered Bengal and Banerjee announced that she would not fight the Lok Sabha elections with the Congress. The TMC has always blamed Chowdhury for the breaking of ties. But Chowdhury’s compulsion from Behrampore has been that with over 50% Muslim voters, he can’t help, but speak against her.

While this may have irked Banerjee and the TMC, it suited him. It was Chowdhury who had suggested successfully that the Congress must ally with the Left in Bengal, much to Banerjee’s anger.

Till the end, the Congress kept trying to work the alliance. While Chowdhury attacked the state government over Sandeshkhali, the Congress, at the Centre, sent out a message to its leaders — keep mum for Banerjee.

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Yusuf Pathan is a new face, a former cricketer, who sports-crazy Bengalis could get attracted to. Given the minority dominated constituency he will fight from, he will give Chowdhury a run for his money. Moreover, a strong anti-incumbency sentiment could leave Chowdhury nervous.

More than this, it’s the end of the INDIA front in Bengal. At a time when the BJP is collecting new allies, the INDIA front seems to be left high and dry. Banerjee has shown no mamata either for the Congress or for the INDIA front.