Abhishek Banerjee meets Rahul Gandhi in Delhi amid TMC-Congress merger rumours

The meeting between the two top leaders comes a day after the West Bengal CID on Tuesday conducted searches at the TMC’s central party office in Kolkata’s Kalighat.

A day after TMC chief Mamata Banerjee met Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Wednesday met Rahul Gandhi, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha. Sources said the two leaders discussed the coordination in the INDIA bloc and its Hyderabad meeting scheduled for August.

As Abhishek and Rahul met at 10, Janpath, on Wednesday, there was speculation of the two parties coming together. “Any speculation is baseless. The meetings were just about the co-ordination between INDIA bloc parties and also, about INDIA bloc meeting in Hyderabad in two months. Mamata Banerjee is a senior leader in the bloc and she will play a role in getting everyone together once again in Hyderabad and hashing out issues,” said a TMC MP.

The meeting of the INDIA bloc in Hyderabad in August is significant as it was decided during Monday’s meeting of the bloc that parties need to meet more often and that the next meeting will be held in August in Hyderabad. A source close to Abhishek said: “They discussed the state of affairs in Bengal, how the TMC and the Congress can work together to strengthen their position in West Bengal as INDIA bloc partners… and prepare together for 2029 to counter the BJP.”

The meeting between the two leaders took place amid a meltdown in the TMC in the aftermath of its defeat in the West Bengal Assembly election. A rebel faction of the party’s parliamentary contingent has claimed that 20 out TMC’s 28 MPs in Lok Sabha want to form a separate bloc and align themselves with the BJP-led NDA. Earlier, 58 out of the party’s 80 MLAs defied the leadership’s choice for the Leader of the Opposition in Assembly. 

Since the crisis began, the relationship between the Congress and TMC has improved. During Monday’s INDIA bloc meeting, Mamata was one of the few leaders who defended the Congress while other allies criticised the grand old party. This is a turnaround from the time when the TMC supremo would challenge the Congress’s leadership of the Opposition bloc. With Bengal lost, TMC is now fighting to stay afloat and is holding on to the main opposition party for support.

Asad Rehman is with the national bureau of The Indian Express and covers politics and policy focusing on religious minorities in India. A journalist for over eight years, Rehman moved to this role after covering Uttar Pradesh for five years for The Indian Express. During his time in Uttar Pradesh, he covered politics, crime, health, and human rights among other issues. He did extensive ground reports and covered the protests against the new citizenship law during which many were killed in the state. During the Covid pandemic, he did extensive ground reporting on the migration of workers from the metropolitan cities to villages in Uttar Pradesh. He has also covered some landmark litigations, including the Babri Masjid-Ram temple case and the ongoing Gyanvapi-Kashi Vishwanath temple dispute. Prior to that, he worked on The Indian Express national desk for three years where he was a copy editor. Rehman studied at La Martiniere, Lucknow and then went on to do a bachelor's degree in History from Ramjas College, Delhi University. He also has a Masters degree from the AJK Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia. ... Read More

A day after TMC chief Mamata Banerjee met Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Wednesday met Rahul Gandhi, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha. Sources said the two leaders discussed the coordination in the INDIA bloc and its Hyderabad meeting scheduled for August.

As Abhishek and Rahul met at 10, Janpath, on Wednesday, there was speculation of the two parties coming together. “Any speculation is baseless. The meetings were just about the co-ordination between INDIA bloc parties and also, about INDIA bloc meeting in Hyderabad in two months. Mamata Banerjee is a senior leader in the bloc and she will play a role in getting everyone together once again in Hyderabad and hashing out issues,” said a TMC MP.

The meeting of the INDIA bloc in Hyderabad in August is significant as it was decided during Monday’s meeting of the bloc that parties need to meet more often and that the next meeting will be held in August in Hyderabad. A source close to Abhishek said: “They discussed the state of affairs in Bengal, how the TMC and the Congress can work together to strengthen their position in West Bengal as INDIA bloc partners… and prepare together for 2029 to counter the BJP.”

The meeting between the two leaders took place amid a meltdown in the TMC in the aftermath of its defeat in the West Bengal Assembly election. A rebel faction of the party’s parliamentary contingent has claimed that 20 out TMC’s 28 MPs in Lok Sabha want to form a separate bloc and align themselves with the BJP-led NDA. Earlier, 58 out of the party’s 80 MLAs defied the leadership’s choice for the Leader of the Opposition in Assembly. 

Since the crisis began, the relationship between the Congress and TMC has improved. During Monday’s INDIA bloc meeting, Mamata was one of the few leaders who defended the Congress while other allies criticised the grand old party. This is a turnaround from the time when the TMC supremo would challenge the Congress’s leadership of the Opposition bloc. With Bengal lost, TMC is now fighting to stay afloat and is holding on to the main opposition party for support.