Kolkata: Congress veteran Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Thursday made a direct pitch to Mamata Banerjee to rejoin Congress along with her MLAs and MPs, saying there would be no objection to her leading the party’s Bengal unit.Chowdhury also appealed to the Congress high command to facilitate her return and said Banerjee should, as a gesture of cooperation similar to the Oct 6 Nandigram bypoll, extend support to the Congress candidate in Rejinagar.His appeal came at a time when Trinamool is reeling from its deepest organisational crisis since its formation, with its legislative and parliamentary wings witnessing rebellions following the party’s defeat in the 2026 assembly elections.“There is no need for a separate entity now. Not much is left of TMC after its defeat in the polls,” said Chowdhury, a former state Congress president. He urged the former CM to rejoin Congress “leaving behind her baggage”, an apparent reference to her nephew Abhishek Banerjee.Banerjee had left Congress and formed Trinamool Congress nearly three decades ago. “We would urge Mamata Banerjeeto join Congress along with all the remaining MLAs and MPs. I will also appeal to Congress high command to let her rejoin the party. We would accept her leadership in Bengal and work with her,” Chowdhury said.“As a friendly gesture, just as she has supported the Congress candidate in Nandigram, she should also extend support to the Congress candidate in Rejinagar,” he said.In Nandigram, the Mamata faction’s candidate withdrew from the contest after meeting CM Suvendu Adhikari. With the faction left without a candidate, Banerjee announced support for Congress nominee Milan Pradhan.Chowdhury sought to link Banerjee’s recent engagement with Congress-led INDIA bloc with his call for her return to the party.TMC MP Sougata Ray, however, said the party would consider such a proposal only if it came formally from the Congress leadership. “He (Chowdhury) has said what he felt. We have nothing to say. TMC is a separate party now. If Congress wants to come with an official proposal, we will discuss the matter in the party. TMC is very much part of the INDIA alliance,” Ray said.Asked about Chowdhury’s “baggage” remark, Ray said there could be no decision about the party without Abhishek Banerjee. “He is our leader and national general secretary,” the MP said.BJP, meanwhile, sought to use the Congress-TMC exchange to argue that Trinamool had exhausted its political purpose.BJP’s Bengal spokesperson Debjit Sarkar said, “TMC was born out of Congress to fight CPM. Now that TMC itself is out of office, they have no other purpose left.” “We are ready to fight Congress, TMC and CPM,” he said..
