Rumblings in the West Bengal unit of Congress have surfaced against the party leaders' equation with ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) on the opposition's Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance (INDIA). A day after Congress leader and Calcutta High Court counsel Kaustav Bagchi on Sunday accused without naming the state Congress president and veteran party Lok Sabha member Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury of going soft about Trinamool Congress, the latter on Monday said that 'those are floating this theory who are just falling in the trap of BJP'.


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“There is no question of going soft about Trinamool Congress. The Congress- Left Front alliance in West Bengal has started becoming stronger in West Bengal with signs of revival of the minority vote bank becoming evident. But BJP does not want the re-emergence of this third force in the state. They are trying to cook up this story of Congress- Trinamool Congress friendship in West Bengal. I request the Congress leaders and workers not to get trapped in this ploy of BJP,” said Chowdhury.


Meanwhile, the leader of the opposition in West Bengal Suvendu Adhikari has continued with his call for those Congress and CPI(M) workers who are aggrieved of the proximity of their central leaders with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over the INDIA alliance, to form a separate anti-Trinamool Congress forum.


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“Kaustav will not be able to do anything while staying in Congress. He should immediately join BJP or form a separate forum against Trinamool Congress,” Adhikari said.


Last week, Bagchi ridiculed state Congress president and veteran party Lok Sabha member Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury without naming him for the latter's comments -- “IfIndiais like a 'river', West Bengal is like a 'pond'. So in the current situation we are compelled to give more emphasis on that river rather than the pond.”


Bagchi strongly reacted to that and said that he does notunderstand the concepts of river and pond and all he understands is that the state Congress cannot continue to be treated as a guinea pig in the interest of New Delhi.


Bagchi has been vocal against Congress's national leader and high- profile advocates like P. Chidambaram and Abhishek Manu Singhvi for holding briefs on behalf of the West Bengal government as well as top Trinamool Congress at the Supreme Court and the Calcutta High Court.