G-23 “Extracted Pound Of Flesh”, Want To Join BJP: Congress Bengal Chief

Kolkata:

Congressmen who’re accusing the occasion of breaching secularism are those that “have already extracted their very own pound of flesh,” mentioned the occasion’s indignant Bengal chief in an interview to NDTV on Tuesday.

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who’s the Congress president in Bengal, supplied this unflattering appraisal in response to allegations that the occasion, by allying with a strong Muslim cleric in Bengal, has deserted its long-held dedication to secularism. That cost has been levelled by Anand Sharma, former union minister, who’s a member of what has been nicknamed the “G-23 membership”, a gaggle of 23 Congress leaders who maintain the occasion’s management, specifically the Gandhis, of inaccessible and inconsistent course.

Yesterday, Mr Sharma, 68, tweeted, “Congress can’t be selective in combating communalists however should accomplish that in all its manifestations, irrespective of faith and color. The presence and endorsement West Bengal PCC President is painful and shameful, he should make clear.”

The Bengal chief of his occasion retaliated by describing him and his G-23 cohort as “leaders, who over the a long time, have loved the ability of the Congress occasion.” Now that the Congress is lowered to a much more modest standing, he professed, “they assume the Congress doesn’t have sources to supply them…so that’s the reason they’re castigating the Congress.”

Mr Chowdhury was present at a public event on February 28 when cleric Abbas Siddiqui, who’s the peer or chief cleric of Bengal’s Furfura Sharif, a revered Muslim shrine, hit out on the Congress for not finalising seat-sharing together with his occasion. The stress was palpable. When Mr Siddiqui had arrived on the venue moments earlier than that, the Congress chief was mid-speech and was reportedly halted by Left leaders who wished to announce the cleric’s entry. The Congress chief first refused to cease, then refused to proceed; he in the end accomplished his deal with with some persuasion from Left leaders who wished to forestall a spectacle.

Critics of the Congress together with the BJP say that remark is suffused with communalism. The occasion is in alliance with the Left in Bengal, and it’s the Left who signed up Mr Siddiqui as a companion. G-23ers really feel Mr Chowdhury mustn’t have agreed to Mr Siddiqui and his Indian Secular Entrance becoming a member of a platform that features the Congress.

Mr Chowdhury has retorted that these overtly attacking him are in actual fact on the lookout for greener pastures. “They thought to appease the occasion who could supply one thing for his or her vibrant future,” he informed NDTV.

He had earlier prompt that the G-23ers wish to defect the BJP by calling out the “singing of the praises of the Prime Minister” by them, a reference to a gathering in Jammu and Kashmir on the weekend the place G-23 boss Ghulam Nabi Azad supplied optimistic feedback about Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Bengal votes for its new authorities beginning March 27. Voting will happen on eight totally different days and outcomes shall be introduced on Could 2.