Mamata responsible for BJP's growth in Bengal: Adhir Chowdhury

The "policies and politics" of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her party, the TMC, has helped the BJP gain ground in the state, leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, has said.

He also said that due to the weakening of opposition parties like the Congress and the Left, the people of the state, "who are opposed" to the Trinamool Congress (TMC), had enmassed voted in favour of the BJP.

"It is due to the policies and politics of Mamata Banerjee and her party that the BJP has gained ground in Bengal. Banerjee and the TMC deliberately weakened the opposition parties to create space for the saffron camp," Chowdhury told PTI.

His comments come in the backdrop of the BJP making significant inroads in the state by winning 18 out of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the general elections. The TMC's tally came down to 22 seats from 34 in 2014.

The Congress won two seats, whereas the Left failed to open its account.

Chowdhury, a five-time MP from Beharampore seat in Murshidabad district, is known to be a staunch critic of Banerjee, and has always opposed any sort of alliance with the party.

He has often attributed the reason behind the weakening of the Congress in the state to the TMC's "poaching" of its MLAs.