CPI(M), TMC keep a close eye on leadership shake-up in Bengal Congress

Kolkata, Jul 31 (PTI) With a change in leadership imminent in the West Bengal Congress unit, the CPI(M) and the TMC are closely monitoring the situation, as it has the potential to alter the political landscape of the state ahead of the 2026 assembly elections.

While all three parties are part of the opposition INDIA bloc at the national level, the Congress-Left alliance opposes both the TMC and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in West Bengal.

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, a staunch critic of the TMC, resigned as the president of the West Bengal Congress after the Lok Sabha elections and the process of appointing a new state unit chief is currently underway, AICC general secretary in charge of West Bengal Ghulam Ahmad Mir said on Tuesday.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, a triangular contest between the TMC, the Congress-Left alliance, and the BJP resulted in the TMC winning 29 seats, the BJP 12, and the Congress securing one seat.

Chowdhury, a five-term MP from Berhampur in Murshidabad district, lost to the TMC’s Yusuf Pathan.

“We are keeping a close watch on the situation. The TMC is part of the opposition alliance INDIA, but in the state, an alliance did not happen because of Adhir Chowdhury’s opposition. He tried to weaken the fight against the BJP in the state by regularly attacking us,” a senior TMC leader said.

West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee has often accused Chowdhury of being an “agent of the BJP,” a charge he denied. He has countered by alleging that the TMC acts as a “B-team” of the BJP at the national level.

According to TMC sources, the recent cooperation between the TMC and the Congress in the Lok Sabha has sparked hope for a similar understanding in Bengal.

“Ideologically, both the TMC and the Congress are not different. We are alike. But in Bengal, the Congress chose the CPI(M), whom we fought against for more than three decades before ousting them from power in 2011,” another TMC leader said.

He said the TMC was formed in 1998 as a breakaway faction from the Congress to oppose the CPI(M).

The TMC had offered two seats to the Congress in Bengal during the Lok Sabha elections, but the Congress declined, preferring to maintain its alliance with the CPI(M)-led Left Front, with which it contested 12 out of 42 seats in the state.

The Congress leadership is reportedly gathering feedback from party members to balance their relationships with the TMC at national and state levels.

The state Congress leadership, particularly Chowdhury, has taken a different stance from the coordination seen between the Congress and the TMC at the central level.

The CPI(M) is cautious about the future of its alliance with the Congress following Chowdhury’s departure as the state unit president.

“Who becomes the next state Congress president is their internal matter. Adhir Chowdhury played a key role in fighting for secular and democratic rights in Bengal alongside the Left. He was prominent in opposing both the TMC and the BJP in the state,” said CPI(M) state secretary Mohammed Salim.

However, another Left Front leader, who wished to remain anonymous, expressed concern that the ongoing Left-Congress alliance might be jeopardised if the Congress moves closer to the TMC in Bengal.

“If the Congress leadership hopes to move closer to the TMC, the Left-Congress alliance will fall apart in Bengal, as we can’t align with the TMC,” he said.

When asked if the party’s stance in Bengal would change, senior Congress leader Pradip Bhattacharya stated that nothing has been decided yet.

“There will be a change in the state unit’s leadership, but we have not yet discussed any changes to our political approach in Bengal,” said the former state Congress president.