Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee met Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Wednesday to explore ways to deepen ties, even as TMC top brass dismissed speculation about a merger of the two parties as “baseless”.
A senior TMC leader, familiar with the details, said the two leaders discussed “a lot of issues including Indian alliance plans and the way forward for the two parties.”
“There were also some political discussions related to Rahul Gandhi’s statements at the India meeting on Vote Korean (Stealing votes),” he said, adding that the two leaders also discussed improving coordination between opposition bloc parties.
Abhishek Banerjee’s meeting with Rahul Gandhi comes a day after TMC chief Mamata Banerjee met Congress parliamentary party chief Sonia Gandhi at her residence in Delhi for 50 minutes. This was the first meeting between the two leaders after a gap of five years. Banerjee last met Gandhi in 2021 after securing a third consecutive term in West Bengal.
The back-to-back meetings come amid a series of setbacks for Mamata’s party and indicate a sense of urgency.
The TMC, which was defeated in the West Bengal elections, also lost 59 of its 78 members (two of whom were expelled) due to rebellion, and is staring at the formation of a similar splinter group in the Lok Sabha. Two of the thirteen Rajya Sabha MPs have already resigned.
Senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said he was not aware of any discussions on merger but stressed that TMC’s approach had changed after facing setbacks in Bengal.
“I am not an astrologer. I have no information about any merger or such things related to Bengal. Perhaps if a formal decision is reached on any issue, we will definitely have confidence. As far as the TMC party is concerned, you can all see that the party has been dispersed, senior party leaders are wandering around… For a long time, they never felt the need to meet the Congress leaders. But now they feel that perhaps they should,” he said.
The Trinamool Congress has certainly not ruled out the possibilities of an alliance with the Congress in West Bengal, something they have avoided for the past 14 years.
“There was a strong bond,” a senior TMC leader said when asked about the meeting with Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday.
Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee came to power in an alliance with the Congress in 2011. In September 2012, Congress ministers in Banerjee’s government resigned after the TMC withdrew from the United Progressive Alliance.
“In this case, a tie-up with Congress is beneficial for Mamata,” a senior Congress leader said.
Emphasizing the importance of the meeting, the leaders of the Transitional Military Council indicated that the meeting was scheduled to last for 45 minutes, but it continued for “88 minutes.”
The TMC is also in touch with the DMK, which did not attend the India meeting on Monday after the Congress supported the TVK government.
The TMC and Congress leaders also noted that the two sides have coordinated on the timeline and planning.
“It was even decided that instead of all the leaders, the Congress would address the media. At the Sonia-Mamata meeting, discussions took place extensively about the India alliance. At the end of the meeting, it was decided that there should be another meeting between the two parties,” he said.
TMC officers are expected to meet Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge soon.
Suman Chattopadhyay, a Kolkata-based political commentator, said the meetings were of “little benefit.”
“The Congress must go with the Left in West Bengal for its revival. Gandhi must not forget how Mamata won the 2011 elections with the help of the Congress and, over the next 15 years, did her best to demolish the Congress in West Bengal.”
