Chowdhury has been a five-time Congress MP from Baharampur since 1999. “My priority is to contest the election and win. I don’t care what others think and that’s how I have worked in my political career. I know that I have to fight and win,” he said.

The sharp reaction from the Congress leader came days TMC chief Mamata Banerjee told her party workers that they should gear up to contest all the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal, including the three seats in Murshidabad district — Jangipur, Murshidabad and Baharampur.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the TMC won 22 seats, the BJP bagged 18 seats and the Congress won 2 seats in Bengal. While Chowdhury won from the Baharampore seat, Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury, a former Union minister, won from the Malda Dakshin constituency.

According to sources in the party, during a closed-door meeting in Murshidabad district on Friday, Banerjee reportedly told TMC workers, “If you all fight unitedly, you can defeat Adhir Chowdhury.”

The TMC, Congress and the Left Front are part of the INDIA bloc, which is opposed to the BJP.

Reacting to Chowdhury’s statements, TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said, “The state unit of Congress is attacking TMC in Bengal. By doing so, it is giving oxygen to the BJP. We are ready to contest all 42 seats. The Congress should talk about seat-sharing on the basis of ground reality. However, they are indulging in politics of pressure. TMC alone can contest and win the election.