The outrage over the Pegasus snooping scandal, which erupted a week ago, appears to have set the stage for realignments among opposition parties.
During her speech on Martyrs' Day on July 21, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had implored opposition parties to begin working on an anti-BJP front in all states before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Mamata Banerjee and the TMC had invited leaders of various parties, including the Congress, to attend the Martyrs' Day event virtually.
Mamata Banerjee is scheduled to visit Delhi from Monday. Her visit is already being interpreted as being part of efforts to cobble together an opposition front against the BJP. According to reports, Mamata may meet Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday.
On Sunday, the Congress Twitter handle brought up the allegation that Mamata's nephew Abhishek Banerjee had been targeted by the Pegasus software. Abhishek is the national general secretary of the TMC. Last week, media reports about the Pegasus scandal claimed the phone numbers of Abhishek Banerjee and poll strategist Prashant Kishor, who played a key role in drafting the TMC's strategy in the recent polls, were selected for possible surveillance by Pegasus. The Congress Twitter post alleged Abhishek Banerjee was targeted in relation to the 2021 Assembly polls. The Congress tweeted, "PM Modi took the adage, ‘keep your enemies closer’ a little too far."
TMC Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien shared the Congress post, tweeting “Khela Hobe”, a key slogan of the TMC in the recent polls.
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There had been reports that the state unit of the Congress would oppose a rapprochement with the TMC. however, West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury told Deccan Herald the state unit would abide by the instructions of the party's high command.
“There is no separate entity as the Bengal Congress. We are the state unit of the Congress. If the national leadership instructs us to join forces with the TMC, we have to," Chowdhury told Deccan Herald.
