Congress will continue to raise voice against ruling parties: Bengal chief

Newly appointed West Bengal Pradesh Congress (WBPCC) president Subhankar Sarkar on Sunday said that his party would continue to raise its voice against the ruling parties both at the Centre and in the state.

Admitting that the Congress's organisation was weak in West Bengal, Sarkar said that he would work towards strengthening it in consultation with former PCC presidents Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Pradip Bhattacharya.

"Congress will continue to raise its voice against the ruling parties at both the Centre and in the state," Sarkar said, addressing a press conference at the party's state headquarters Bidhan Bhavan here.

He said that the party will, however, support any constructive effort such as setting up industries in the state by either of these dispensations.

Sarkar said that the Congress, if voted to power in West Bengal, will ensure that law and order in the state will be such that no parent will have to "wait anxiously for their daughter to return home or whether she will return at all".

He said that Congress workers will also take up issues such as corruption in the state and reach out to people after the ensuing Durga Puja.

Assembly elections will be held in the state in 2026.

Both Congress and the Left Front failed to win a single seat in the state assembly despite fighting the 2021 polls in an electoral alliance.

Congress won one of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state in this year's Lok Sabha polls.

Sarkar, however, sidetracked a question on the Congress's future equations with its electoral ally Left Front in West Bengal and the ruling Trinamool Congress, which are all stakeholders in the opposition INDIA alliance formed to fight the BJP, saying that his primary job is to strengthen the party organisation in the state.

The newly-appointed WBPCC president said that he will seek guidance from his predecessors Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Pradip Bhattacharya as well as from the grassroots-level workers to strengthen the Congress in the state.

"We will work on the path shown by our leader Rahul Gandhi and not be afraid of anyone and also not intimidate anyone," he said, asserting that the party will speak in favour of people's interest.

Sarkar said the Congress high command has mandated him to strengthen the party's organisation in every part of West Bengal.

He said that while the state is in turbulence over the rape and murder of a doctor at R G Kar Medical College and Hospital, it is also suffering the pangs of floods in some parts.

"I will visit all district offices in the state and meet the leaders and workers of the party," he said.

Maintaining that people have expectations from the Congress in the state, Sarkar said that people were, however, being misled by binary politics.