After criticism of Congress, Mamata to meet regional leaders

The Trinamool Congress chairperson will visit Odisha on March 21, where she is likely to meet State’s Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik

After repeatedly criticising and ruling out any alliance with the Congress ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will visit Odisha and New Delhi to speak to leaders of regional parties.  

The Trinamool Congress chairperson will visit Odisha on March 21, where she is likely to meet State’s Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.  After her Odisha visit, Ms. Banerjee will visit the national capital to meet the leaders of other regional parties.

Since March 3, criticism of the Congress by leaders of the Trinamool Congress, including the Chief Minister, has become more direct and scathing.

On March 3, Congress candidate Bayron Biswas defeated Trinamool Congress candidate Debasish Bhattacharya at Sagardighi Assembly poll by a margin of 22,986 votes.

The sharpest criticism of the Congress party came from Ms. Banerjee on March 19, when during an internal meeting of Murshidabad Trinamool Congress leaders, she called Rahul Gandhi as “Modi’s [Prime Minister) biggest TRP (target rating point)”.

“The BJP is not letting Parliament to function in order to establish Rahul Gandhi as the leader of the Opposition. If Rahul remains leader of the Opposition, nobody would be able to defeat Narendra Modi, because Rahul is Modi’s biggest TRP,” Ms. Banerjee told her party leadership.

The Chief Minister had targeted the Congress leadership during a high level party meeting on March 17 at Kolkata.