Such 'poaching' not designed to strengthen Oppn unity, serves BJP: Cong slams TMC as WB MLA crosses over

A day after its lone MLA in West Bengal joined the TMC, the Congress on Tuesday lashed out at the Mamata Banerjee-led party, saying such ''poaching'' is not designed to strengthen opposition unity and only serves the BJP's objectives.

The remark drew a sharp rebuttal from the TMC, which asked the Congress leadership to shun double standards and clear its stand on whether it wants to oppose the ruling party in the state or the BJP at the Centre.

The TMC also accused the grand old party of "breaching the trust in opposition unity".

The Congress lost its lone MLA in the state assembly, Bayron Biswas, as he switched over to the TMC on Monday in the presence of the ruling party's general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.

Biswas crossing over to the TMC and the Congress slamming West Bengal's ruling party assume significance as these come at a time when efforts are on to forge opposition unity to take on the BJP in the 2024 general election.

In a sharp attack on the TMC, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, ''Three months after he was elected as a Congress MLA in a historic victory, Bayron Biswas has been lured away by the TMC in West Bengal.'' This is a "complete betrayal" of the mandate of the people of the Sagardighi Assembly constituency in Murshidabad district, Ramesh said on Twitter.

''Such poaching, which has happened earlier in Goa, Meghalaya, Tripura and other states, is not designed to strengthen Opposition unity and only serves the BJP's objectives,'' he said.

Reacting to the allegations, senior TMC leader Sukhendu Sekhar Roy said the Congress has to decide whom they want to fight. ''They can't claim that they are fighting against the BJP at the Centre by opposing the TMC in Bengal. This double standard has to stop. The policy of Kerala, where the CPI (M) and the Congress are at loggerheads but are allies at the Centre, won't work in West Bengal,'' he told PTI.

The CPI(M) and the Congress have allied in West Bengal and are jointly fighting against the TMC and the opposition BJP in the state.

The TMC's deputy leader in Rajya Sabha claimed that Biswas joined the TMC as he felt that ''it is the only force which can fight against the BJP in Bengal''.

''We don't need lessons from the Congress about how to fight against the BJP. In Bengal, the Congress has aligned with the CPI(M) and has been fighting against us to help the BJP,'' he said.

Echoing him, TMC Rajya Sabha party leader Derek O'Brien said the Congress has breached the trust of opposition unity by fighting against the TMC in Bengal.

''Despite Mamata Banerjee's support, the Congress vows to fight Mamata Banerjee in Bengal,'' Statement from Congress two weeks ago. Congress breaches trust on Opposition unity and then expects bouquets of roses! And about strengthening BJP? Grow up please,'' he wrote on the microblogging site. At the function to join Bengal's ruling party in Ghatal in Medinipur, Bayron claimed that the "Congress played no role" in his victory, and he won because of his goodwill.

Bayron, a local 'bidi' magnate, had won the Sagardighi seat earlier this year in a by-election, beating his TMC rival, much to the consternation of the ruling camp.

The desertion of the MLA does not come under the purview of the anti-defection law as he is the lone representative of the Congress in the assembly, and his joining TMC means a merger of the Congress Legislative party with the larger TMC legislative party.

On Monday, Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the TMC was petrified after losing the Sagardighi by-poll and had used everything to poach the Congress MLA.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)