The Aryavarth Express
Agency (New Delhi): The Congress party issued a stern warning on Monday to those engaging in anti-party activities in West Bengal, following the vandalization of posters and hoardings of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outside the party office in Kolkata.
A day after West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury criticized TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee’s loyalty to the INDIA bloc, several posters and hoardings of Kharge were defaced with ink. Taking serious note of the incident, AICC general secretary K C Venugopal emphasized that the party would not tolerate such acts of “gross indiscipline.”
“We are taking very serious note of such grave anti-party activities. The Indian National Congress shall not tolerate such public display of defiance and indiscipline. The general secretary in-charge of West Bengal is directed to immediately submit a factual report on these acts of gross indiscipline,” Venugopal said in a statement.
He noted that the party high command was informed that some office-bearers and workers had made uncharitable remarks against Kharge in the media and on social media. “Acts of vandalising hoardings outside the WBPCC office have also been carried out by certain miscreants. This has hurt the sentiments of millions of party workers and supporters,” Venugopal added.
Unidentified individuals also wrote “agent of Trinamool Congress” on Kharge’s posters and hoardings in Kolkata. Sources in the Congress revealed that Chowdhury, who is currently in Baharampur, Murshidabad district, expressed displeasure over the incident and instructed party workers to file a police complaint. The defaced posters were subsequently removed.
A party leader alleged, “This might have happened on Saturday night. This is the handiwork of the TMC, which wants to create differences between senior Congress leaders and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.”
Kharge had rebuked Chowdhury on Saturday in response to Banerjee’s statement that if the INDIA bloc forms the government after the Lok Sabha elections, she would support it from outside. Chowdhury had remarked that Banerjee cannot be trusted and might align with the BJP. Kharge countered, “Mamata Banerjee is with the alliance. She has recently said that she will join the government. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury will not take the decision. The decision will be taken by me and the high command, and those who do not agree will go out.”
He asserted that Chowdhury does not have the authority to decide Banerjee’s involvement in the INDIA bloc if the anti-BJP alliance comes to power.
In reaction to Kharge’s comments, Chowdhury stated, “I cannot speak in favour of someone who wants to finish me and our party in Bengal politically. This is a battle for every Congress worker. I have spoken on their behalf. I do not want the state Congress to be used for her (Banerjee’s) personal agenda.”