A phone call from Sonia Gandhi enquiring after her health following a minor road accident, a favourable chat from Priyanka Vadra and numerous cosseting statements from senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh literally begging her to join Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra — which was presently in North Bengal — “even for 5-10 minutes” no news emanated from the Trinamool Congress interiors that Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee would respond favourably to Janpath’s frantic appeal post Nitish Kumar somersault in Bihar.
Banerjee who on Sunday embarked on a 5-day tour of North Bengal and whose presence in the region would coincide with Gandhi’s Yatra was unlikely to join the march TMC sources said though not ruling out a short informal meeting between the two during their stay in the region.
While Banerjee has a packed programme with successive meetings in Coochbehar, Siliguri, Raiganj, Malda and Murshidabad Gandhi was to briefly slip into Bihar’s Katihar district from Islampur in Bengal before reappearing in Malda and then Murshidabad on January 31, Congress sources said.
Meanwhile, Ramesh continued to sweet-talk Banerjee saying Indian National Democratic Inclusive Alliance would be a nullity without the Chief Minister. “As has already been told by our top leadership that Mamata Banerjee is extremely dear to us… she is close to our heart and without her INDIA alliance cannot be thought of … we respect Mamata ji and continue to learn and take inspiration from her “We also know that she is a busy Chief Minister for whom it is very difficult to find time for the Yatra but still we will cordially request her to take even 5-10 minutes time out of her busy schedule to join the Yatra … we will be obliged if she manages to do so,” Ramesh said.
Notwithstanding, Ramesh’s conciliatory remarks TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh continued to attack Pradesh Congress president Adhir Chowdhury wondering why the Janpath would not rein him in when Chowdhury was attacking the TMC in “filthiest words.”
He said, “Adhir Chowdhury who is also the leader of the Congress in Parliament has been attacking our leader in filthiest of words … but their national leadership kept mum … there was a need to rein him in … and now there is no end to sugar-coated statements … this is the same Congress which joined hands with the CPI(M) and fought elections in 2016 and 2021 before being reduced to Zero,” reminding that, “though Rahul Gandhi has come to Bengal with his own political programme it has to be remembered that only the TMC can defeat the BJP which it did in 2021.”