Rahul Gandhi’s Remarks on TMC Trigger Angry Response from Mamata Banerjee’s Party

Rahul Gandhi’s remarks about the Trinamool Congress (TMC) at an election rally in Shillong on Wednesday drew an angry response from the Mamata Banerjee-led party. Gandhi accused the TMC of helping the BJP and came in for criticism from Abhishek Banerjee and Derek O’Brien, who dismissed the Congress’s claims as baseless. Abhishek Banerjee pointed out that the Congress had contested 92 seats in the Bengal elections in 2021, suggesting that their aim was to help the BJP. Derek O’Brien drew attention to the recent exit of Congress MLAs in Goa, asking who was helping whom. The TMC is pushing to win the Meghalaya Assembly elections, months after their efforts to expand their national footprint suffered a blow following a heavy defeat in Goa. Gandhi’s comments came a day after party president Mallikarjun Kharge said the Congress was in touch with other Opposition parties about next year’s parliamentary elections and expressed confidence that an Opposition alliance led by his party would come to power.