Kolkata, Dec 3 (IANS) Following the disastrous performance of the Congress in the recently-concluded Assembly polls in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, the Trinamool Congress said it was “high time that the oldest national party of the country stopped behaving like an elder brother and dictating terms in the INDIA bloc.”

Although West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee did not give any reaction to the election results, a couple of party spokesmen in the state have started targeting the Congress.

First the state Trinamool Congress spokesman Kunal Ghosh said that the Congress’ failure in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh cannot be viewed as the failure of the INDIA bloc.

“It is more of the Congress’ failure than the success of the BJP. I do not think that the Assembly election results in these three states will not have any impact in West Bengal in 2024. The factor in West Bengal is Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. In fact, many welfare schemes like monthly payments for the women in the state were replicated by the BJP in their poll promises for these states. So it is better that the INDIA alliance goes for the polls in 2024 with Mamata Banerjee as the main face,” said Ghosh on Sunday afternoon.

Trinamool Congress’ youth wing leader Debangshu Bhattacharya said the Congress’ debacle again proves that Mamata Banerjee is the only credible face nationally to resist the BJP like she did in the 2021 West Bengal Assembly polls.

“It is most unfortunate that the Congress has not yet been able to float another DK Shivakumar in the entire north India. They need to shed their ego and understand the ground realities. The party has to stay with the people throughout the year and not just before the polls, which is exactly what the Trinamool Congress under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee is doing,” Bhattacharya said.

However, there was no official reaction from the state Congress in the matter till the time the report was filed.