Those supporting Rahul Gandhi as PM are welcome: Congress on reports of Trinamool merger

Congress leaders have welcomed a potential merger with Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress faction, citing her political roots in the party. The speculation follows high-level meetings in New Delhi, though the breakaway rebel TMC legislative bloc has completely rejected the idea

New Delhi: Congress leaders on Thursday said there is a “natural possibility” of the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress merging with the party, since the former West Bengal Chief Minister initially belonged to it and emphasised that whoever wants to see Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi as the future Prime Minister is welcome.

Speaking to IANS, Congress’s Andhra Pradesh unit Vice President, V. Gurunadham, said: “She (Banerjee) was a Congress leader originally. She had fought on behalf of the Congress in West Bengal for a long time, and so naturally, there is every possibility. That is why the West Bengal Congress chief said that whoever wants to see Rahul Gandhi as India’s Prime Minister can join the Congress.”

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The Congress leader asserted that it is a common invitation for any political leader in the country and not only the Trinamool.

However, Gurunadham reminded that the Trinamool supremo had differed with the Opposition alliance for some time. “As late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had said ‘Change is the rule of life’, so naturally, since she happens to be a part of Congress initially, she came to the INDIA bloc meeting and had interactions with Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. ”

“Mamata Banerjee, who is the leader of the Trinamool, originated from the Congress and belongs to the Congress. For various reasons, she differed with the Congress, and she set up her own political party by the name and style of the Trinamool Congress,” he noted.

Echoing a similar view, Congress MP Sukhdeo Bhagat said those who agree with the Gandhian ideology and want to be a part of the movement to save the constitutional establishments and the Constitution itself, “are welcome into the party”.

Speculation over a possible re-merger of the Trinamool with the Congress gained momentum following Mamata Banerjee’s one-to-one meeting with Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday and Trinamool MP Abhishek Banerjee’s separate one-to-one meeting with Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Ritabrata Banerjee, leader of the new but majority bloc of the Trinamool Congress Legislative Party in the West Bengal Assembly and also the official Leader of the Opposition in the House, categorically denied any possibility of a re-merger between the Trinamool and the Congress.