TMC asks Cong to merge with it, BJP agent, says Cong

TMC on Thursday asked Congress to merge with it and fight against BJP under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee after its rout in the assembly poll in five states where votes were counted on Thursday.

This drew a sharp retort from the grand old party which accused it of being an "agent of BJP".

Asked to comment on the party's poor show in Goa, TMC leaders said the party is satisfied with the votes it secured given the fact that the party had opened its unit in the coastal state a few months ago.

BJP is racing to a second straight win in politically crucial Uttar Pradesh and is dominating the score chart in Goa, Uttarakhand and Manipur, while the Aam Aadmi Party won a landslide victory in Punjab and wrested the state from the Congress, diminishing the party even further.

Congress is now at an all time low, being in power only in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. It is ahead in only two seats in Uttar Pradesh with a vote share of just 2.3 per cent -- notwithstanding the high-decibel campaign by the Gandhi siblings Rahul and Priyanka.

"From the results, it is proven that Congress is now just limited to two states. Congress has failed to fight against the BJP.

"TMC has shown how you can put up a fight against the BJP and defeat it (in Bengal). It is high time that Congress merges with TMC and fights under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee," senior TMC leader and state minister Firhad Hakim said.

Echoing him, TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said Congress's failure to put up a fight has led to BJP's victory in the assembly poll in four of the five states.

"We have been saying this for a long that Congress in its present form is not suited to fight against the BJP. To fight against a formidable force like BJP, you need a leader like Mamata Banerjee," he said.

Reacting to TMC's jibe, West Bengal Congress president Adhir Chowdhury said "agents of BJP" should not advise the party how to fight against the saffron camp.

"TMC is the biggest agent of the BJP ... Rather TMC should merge with Congress if it is so serious about fighting against BJP," Chowdhury, who is also the leader of Congress in Lok Sabha, said.

On Trinamool Congress (TMC) drawing a blank in Goa, where it contested for the first time this year, Ghosh defended the party's performance saying, "We had opened our units in Goa just a few months back. So we are happy that people of Goa are now aware of the party's symbol and flag. We are satisfied with the votes we got; we want to work hard to further increase our organisation in the coastal state".

The West Bengal BJP unit, which has lost much of its steam after the defeat in the state poll last year, said the party's performance in the four states is the victory of developmental politics pursued by it.

"We don't want to comment on TMC's proposal for merger of Congress as both are family-run parties," BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar said.