Mukherjee was speaking at a rally at Santosh Mitra Square in north Kolkata to kick off his party’s campaign for the upcoming civic elections.

“When the CPM brought a no-confidence motion along with the BJP on the issue of the Nuclear Bill, we told them they were making the mistake (of ditching the Congress) for the third time. First, it was in 1988 when they sided with the BJP and went against Rajiv Gandhi. In 1993, they again went along with the BJP and brought a no-confidence motion against the Congress government. But in 2009 elections, we gave them a befitting reply by reducing them from 60 to 24 in the Lok Sabha,” Mukherjee said.

Over the issue of snapping of the alliance with the Trinamool Congress, the Congress veteran said forming an alliance is aimed at strengthening the party and not finishing it. “Others will have to understand that people have voted for the alliance. To form an alliance is aimed at strengthening the party, not doing away with it. That people want change does not mean Congress will have to be a closed chapter. If that happened, we would have to do away with the Congress in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra etc,” Mukherjee said.

He also said the party had made sacrifices during the 2009 elections. “We were given only 14 seats but we said for the sake of alliance we would accept it. We made sacrifices. But this thing cannot be repeated time and again. You cannot ignore a 126-year-old party,” the minister said.

Regrets Subrata’s departure from Cong
West Bengal Pradesh Congress president Pranab Mukherjee today admitted that the party has suffered a jolt with its senior leader Subrata Mukherjee joining the Trinamool Congress ahead of the civic polls.