Bihar and Jharkhand News

Kolkata: Left Front Chairman Biman Bose and West Bengal Congress President and party's candidate from Berhampore constituency Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury during a joint press conference for Lok Sabha polls, in Kolkata, Sunday, April 21, 2024.(Photo: IANS/Kuntal Chakrabarty)

Kolkata, April 21 (IANS) Congress' West Bengal President Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Sunday took a dig at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, saying just as Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is 'Paltu Kumar' for the opposition INDIA bloc, she is 'Paltu Kumari', his counterpart in West Bengal.

"Let me ask a question. Mamata Banerjee takes pride that she named the opposition bloc. Then why did you take a U-turn at a later stage? Why did you turn out to be ‘Paltu Kumari’, just as Nitish Kumar turned out to be ‘Paltu Kumar?" he said in questions directed at Banerjee, as he addressed a joint press conference with Left Front Chairman Biman Bose.

Chowdhury threw a virtual challenge at the Chief Minister. Asserting that he will quit politics if he is unable to get elected from Baharampur for the sixth consecutive term, he asked: "But if I am elected again, will the Chief Minister accept it publicly as her personal defeat?"

To a query that in the past cases of Congress- Left Front alliance, it was noticed that while the CPI-M was able to channelise their dedicated vote bank for the Congress, the latter was not able to reciprocate, Bose said that he hopes that the trend will be reversed this time.

“It is not necessary that what has not happened before will not happen this time as well. In the past, there had not been any occasion that I have attended any joint press conference with Adhir," the Left leader quipped.