Indian Trinamool Congress National Joint Secretary Derek O’Brien on Saturday dismissed speculation about the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) merging with another political party, terming such reports as “fake news”.
His statements come amid ongoing speculation about the future course of the party, which is suffering from an internal crisis after its defeat in the West Bengal Assembly elections.
“Let me put an end to this fake news about AITC merging with any other party. It is baseless. Yes, that is the perfect word used by my friend KC Venugopal,” O’Brien told PTI.
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Rumors of a possible merger have increased after a series of meetings between senior Trinamool Congress and Congress leaders in New Delhi this week.
TMC chief Mamata Banerjee met Congress parliamentary leader Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday, a day after the India Caucus met in the national capital. The Congress also released a picture of the two leaders exchanging warm greetings at the opposition alliance meeting.
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While neither side revealed details of the Mamata-Sonia meeting, sources said Banerjee stressed the need for opposition unity and called on the Indian bloc to work together to address issues of concern to the public and challenge the BJP.
A day later, TMC National Secretary General Abhishek Banerjee met Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi.
Sources said that Rahul and Abhishek’s meeting was part of the ongoing engagement between the Congress and the TMC following discussions held at the India Caucus meeting earlier this week.
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Both the Congress and the TMC have denied speculation about a merger, terming such reports baseless and insisting that their recent interactions were aimed at strengthening opposition coordination.
