West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said that the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) 'polarisation politics' damaged the Congress massively but helped Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the recently held Assembly elections.
While speaking toafter a meeting in Kolkata to discuss the results of the recently-held polls, Chowdhury said that the political scenario was not in the favour of Congress and the state's minority population chose the Trinamool Congress to 'eliminate communal forces'.
In the eight-phase assembly elections held earlier this year, the TMC emerged victorious with 213 of the total 294 seats. The BJP managed 77. The Samyukt Morcha, comprising the Congress, the Left and the Indian Secular Front (ISF) only managed one seat, belonging to the ISF.
"The political scenario was not in our favour during the West Bengal assembly elections. The BJP had put all their forces to fight Mamata but they failed. BJP's polarization politics caused us massive damage but benefited Mamata Banerjee. The minority population felt that if there is anyone that can eliminate communal forces like the BJP, it is the TMC and Mamata," he told ANI.
While speaking about the party's alliance with the ISF and CPM, Chowdhury said that the topic was not discussed.
"We never formed an alliance with the ISF. Our alliance is with the Communist Party of India (Marxist). We have not parted ways and the alliance is still there. ISF leaders haven't said anything against us or the alliance and neither have we. If there is any rift in the alliance, it will be revealed," he said.
He further informed that other topics discussed in the meeting included the direction of the Congress in Bengal and the course of action for the coming elections.
( With inputs from ANI )
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