'No party should trust Mamata': Adhir Ranjan attacks Bengal CM for fielding Yusuf Pathan from Behrampore

After the Trinamool Congress fielded former cricketer Yusuf Pathan against him in Behrampore, Congress' Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury targeted TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee and said that if she wanted to honour Yusuf, they should have sent him to the Rajya Sabha.

"If Mamata Banerjee had good intentions for Yusuf Pathan, she would have asked alliance (INDIA alliance) for a seat for him (Yusuf Pathan) in Gujarat. But here in West Bengal, he is selected as a candidate to polarise the common man and to help the BJP, so that Congress can be defeated," he said in a press conference.

The TMC today fielded Yusuf Pathan, who comes from Gujarat, from the Behrampore Lok Sabha seat, currently held by Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. Adhir Chowdhury has never lost this seat since 1999. He has won five times from Behrampore - 1999, 2004, 2009, 2014, and 2019. He said the TMC fielded a candidate from here to divide Congress' votes and help the BJP.     

The Congress leader further said Mamata Banerjee had proven that none of the political parties of India should trust a leader like her. "Mamata Banerjee fears that if I continue to be in the INDIA alliance, PM Modi will be unhappy. By separating herself from the INDIA alliance, she has sent a message to the PMO, don't be unhappy with me, I am not standing to fight against the BJP," he said. 

The Congress was earlier in talks to strike an alliance with TMC in Bengal. While TMC offered two seats, the state unit wanted to contest 8-9 seats. Adhir Chowdhury was also very critical of Mamata Banerjee - a reason the ruling party cited while breaking the alliance. 

The TMC on Sunday released its candidates for all 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal. The party has named film star-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha for Asansol. Sinha had won this seat on a TMC ticket in 2022. Former MP Haji Nurul Islam will replace actor Nusrat Jahan in the Basirhat Lok Sabha seat, where the trouble-torn Sandeshkhali is situated. 

The TMC dropped seven incumbents and notably excluded BJP defector Arjun Singh from Barrackpore, who joined the TMC two years ago. Among the new faces are 12 women candidates and 26 individuals, including sitting MPs and previous contenders. Additionally, nine sitting MLAs, including two ministers from the West Bengal cabinet Partha Bhowmick and Biplab Mitra, have been thrust into the Lok Sabha battle. 

Mahua Moitra, who was expelled from the Lok Sabha last year in cash for a query case, has been reaffirmed as the party's candidate for the Krishnanagar seat. Kirti Azad, a former cricketer and party leader, has been nominated for the Bardhaman-Durgapur constituency, previously lost to the BJP in 2019. 

Notably, among the nine MLAs nominated for the Lok Sabha polls, BJP defectors Biswajit Das and Mukutmani Adhikari will contest from Bongaon and Ranaghat, strongholds of the Matua community, which the TMC lost to the BJP in 2019.