Goa Polls: Mahua Moitra, Chidambaram Trade Barbs Over TMC-Congress Alliance Bid

Moitra confirmed that the TMC had made a formal offer to the Congress for an alliance in Goa.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday, 10 January, had met senior party leaders P Chidambaram and KC Venugopal to come up with strategies ahead of the upcoming Goa Assembly elections.

(Photo: The Quint)

Veteran Congress leader P Chidambaram had, on Friday, 14 January, said that the fight in the upcoming Goa Assembly elections was between the Congress and the BJP, and that if anyone wanted to support the anti-BJP front, they could reach out to the Congress.

Chidambaram, during an interview with a local TV channel, had said that though the Trinamool Congress (TMC) had shown a desire for an alliance, it had not proposed any definitive plans for the same. He had said:

"The TMC may have hinted at a desire to form an alliance, it is not clear what they have in mind. It is not clear whether they will be the lead party in forming the alliance, it is not clear whether they want to contest a large number of seats, it is also not clear why they are poaching on Congress members."

Criticising the Aam Aadmi Party and the TMC's "aggressive pre-poll campaigns" in Goa, Chidambaram had said that the parties should reflect on the fact that they would need to work with the Congress in order to challenge the ruling BJP.

'Trinamool Had Made Formal & Definitive Offer': Mahua Moitra Retaliates

TMC MP Mahua Moitra took to Twitter to respond to Chidambaram's remarks, and confirmed that her party had indeed made an offer to the Congress for an alliance in Goa.

"1. AITC already made formal & definitive offer to INC on Goa to defeat BJP. 2. INC leadership asked for time to revert. This was almost 2 weeks ago. 3. If Mr. Chidambaram not aware of details he should talk to his leadership rather than making these statements [sic]," Moitra said in a tweet.

The confirmation of the TMC's proposal comes as a first, as both parties had hitherto denied any such offer.

Congress general secretary KC Venugopal, on 10 January, had stated, "The rumour in circulation that a possible alliance with TMC was discussed by Rahul Gandhi in today's meeting is completely baseless & untrue."

Responding to Mahua Moitra's tweet, Congress leader Dinesh Gundu Rao said that Trinamool's "brilliant strategy" to defeat the BJP in Goa was only weakening the Congress and dividing the anti-BJP voteshare in the state. "Whom does that help Moitraji?" he tweeted.

'AITC Serious About Defeating BJP'

Following up on her previous tweet, Mahua Moitra made another tweet reiterating that the offer was still on the table and that the party was waiting for a response.

"Uninformed false bravado no substitute for rational thinking & maturity. Definitive offer between principals on table - waiting for revert. No desire to engage in further Twitter shadow boxing with various INC functionaries [sic]," she said.