Congress ignoring West Bengal allowed BJP to make inroads in state: Party leader Omprakash Mishra

With Congress having only won six per cent votes in West Bengal, it seems the BJP has made considerable ground in the state.

One Congress leader, Omprakash Mishra, held the central leadership of the party responsible for the debacle in the state.

Speaking exclusively to India Today TV, Omprakash Mishra said, "At both the national level and at our state, our performance has been most disappointing and in fact, this is one of the lowest scores and percentage we've had. I suppose there are so many reasons including a policy failure on our part to align with the Left and it was suicidal not to have a local understanding with the Left which could have prevented BJP's emergence in the way they have done."

He said a Congress-Left alliance contesting the polls against the Trinamool Congress (TMC) would have prevented the BJP from gaining in West Bengal.

"Had the Congress-Left on one hand and Trinamool Congress on the other contested the elections the way they it was in 2016, BJP would have been squeezed out of the equation. It was a great failure in terms of coordination and strategising. Secondly, the central leadership of our party, they have actually not been mindful of the West Bengal party affairs at all. In fact the leadership seems to be quite weak because they have posted so many people here in the state committee and they have blackmailed the party to go alone in a way. So at the central the level we do not have a voice for West Bengal, there is no representation in the Congress working committee, there is no representation in the central role of the spokesperson, and in fact in the AICT organization structure also West Bengal has been neglected."

Omprakash Mishra said since West Bengal has eight per cent of the country's population, Congress's win was no happy situation.

"West Bengal has almost 8 per cent of India's population and Congress is being neglected so this is actually not a very happy situation. We expect this to improve if Congress president Rahul Gandhi ensures \he is going to take this into account."

He also blamed the lack of concensus for the huge losses for both TMC and Congress in the state.

What's noteworthy is that while Congress president Rahul Gandhi conducted just three rallies in the last four months, BJP had done 15, all of which were just PM Narendra Modi's alone.

"The situation after 23rd May, it's completely different in the country so therefore now we have to take a fresh look. It is necessary for us to see to it that the BJP does not gain further. The non-TMC, the anti-TMC vote has travelled to the BJP. This is not organic for the BJP but then the BJP leaders might like to make further inroads. And I don't think it is a good idea for a sudden collapse here in West Bengal.

"We oppose Mamata Banerjee and her policies but then she represents democracy and secularism. If necessary, Congress should be willing to join hands with her or at least have political accommodation with each other. At the central level the party has a good equation. It must be strived for at a state level as well but for that Mamata Banerjee also has to come up and take such initiative. Her government's functioning especially on the democratic front has to improve."

Omprakash Mishra said the Congress was neither a majority party nor a minority party and that it was in the interest of the people that the party uphold what it expects TMC to do. He said Congress must now look to new visions of cooperation with the TMC, but only if the latter shows it wants to take the initiative.