Cornered and left red-faced by Mamata Banerjee’s ‘no UPA’ remarks, the Congress on Thursday sought to make a blistering attack on Trinamool Congress chief calling her opportunist.

“Unhe bhi atma manthan karne ki jarurat hae (Mamata Banerjee also needs to do an honest soul searching),” Congress spokesman Randeep Surjewala told reporters here.

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“You have been to NDA four times and have entered into an alliance with Congress multiple times, then you try to teach us on ideology and principles is not proper,” Surjewala said in presence of senior leaders including Malikarjun Kharge and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. He reminded Mamata Banerjee that she has been hobnobbing with the BJP from time to time and was Railway Minister under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and also that she had once termed BJP as her party’s natural ally.

“There is a difference between fighting for ideology and political opportunism. You kept changing sides between NDA and UPA as per your convenience, you should not give us lessons on ideology,” Surjewala said.

20% of popular votes are with Congress while TMC is having only 4% popular votes. Can you fight Modi without this share of 20% votes? She wants to break and weaken Congress and Opposition by becoming Modi’s informer: Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Mamata Banerjee 2/2

She doesn’t know how to respect national anthem. She is more interested in praising her nephew than doing something for the country. Congress is a national party and that is how it approaches issues in different states:

Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, also a bitter Mamata critic from West Bengal, has said that by her machinations and ‘misusing’ names such as Sharad Pawar (NCP chief), the Trinamool supremo is only helping the BJP.

He further said, “Twenty per cent of popular votes are with the Congress while Trinamool Congress is having only four per cent popular votes. Can you fight Narendra Modi without this share of 20 percent votes?”.

Congress general secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal also has said that any attempt to take on BJP without Congress would only end up as a ‘dream’.

After her meeting with NCP founder Sharad Pawar, also a former Congress colleague, Mamata Banerjee in the presence of Mr. Pawar said, “What UPA? There is no UPA anymore. We will sit and decide on how to form a new block.”

Ironically, NCP and Shiv Sena run a coalition regime in Maharashtra with the Congress being the third important constituent.