West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Friday said he did everything in his capacity but failed to retain Baharampur, a Lok Sabha seat he represented since 1999.
Elaborating on what went wrong in Baharampur, the Congress leader said, "A defeat is a defeat. I did everything I could, but I could not succeed. I have won from the seat (Baharampur) five times. I am hearing the BJP polled more votes this time".
Chowdhury, in an interview with The Indian Express, claimed that the Trinamool Congress created fear among the voters by threatening them that if its candidate (Yusuf Pathan) loses, one of the schemes launched to provide financial assistance to women would be stopped.
"My district is a very poor district and is the hub of migrant workers. If a poor person gets Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,200, it is a big relief for them, especially women. And they said in the campaign that if the TMC candidate loses, the Lakshmir Bhandar Scheme (for women) will be stopped. They created that fear," he said.
On the Mamata Banerjee-led party's claims that he stood in the way of an alliance with the Congress in West Bengal, Chowdhury said, "I had told my party that I have no problem whatsoever with the party entering into an agreement with anyone. But I told them that the Bengal CM will not enter into an agreement till I am at the helm of the Congress in Bengal. I told the party to appoint a new person as the state Congress chief and speak to her directly, said I will not have any problem. But if they speak to the TMC projecting me as the face of the party, there would be no agreement".
The senior Congress leader added that most of the Bengal Congress leaders opposed alliance with TMC.
"All the tall leaders of the Bengal Congress had gone to New Delhi and attended a meeting convened by the AICC. Almost all of them, except one or two, said that an alliance with the TMC would not be appropriate. So, it was not me alone. However, now the blame is being put on me," he told The Indian Express.
Chowdhury, who lost against TMC's Yusuf Pathan, said that he has no complaints against the former cricketer. However, he pointed out, that the Mamata-led party waged a strange campaign.
"They (TMC) imported someone from outside — I do not have any objection to that — but he (Pathan) came and started telling minorities to vote for 'bhai' and not 'dada'. While dada means Hindu, bhai means Muslim".
"But I don't have any complaints against anybody. Yusuf Pathan is a good man. He did not utter a word against me … He is a sportsman and fought like one," he added.
In a major setback to the Chowdhury, Pathan defeated him by a margin of over 85,000 votes.
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