Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal and leader of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), claimed that Narendra Modi will only become "more powerful" because the Congress does not take politics seriously. She also made the claim at a TMC event in Goa that the main opposition party at the national level does not take decisions, explaining that the country is suffering as a result.

Mamata's sharp attack on the Congress comes just days after political strategist Prashant Kishor slammed Rahul Gandhi, saying he was probably under the illusion that Modi's power would eventually fade.

Addressing a group of media persons in Panaji on the last day of her three-day visit to the coastal state, where assembly polls are due early next year, Mamata said, “I cannot say everything right now because they [the Congress] didn't take politics seriously. Modi ji is going to be more powerful because of Congress… If one cannot make a decision, why should the country suffer for that?”

“They [the Congress] got an opportunity in the past,” the news agency quoted Mamata Banerjee as saying. “Instead of fighting against the BJP, they contested against me in my state.”

As she raised her voice on Saturday, the Trinamool supremo may have also addressed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saying that Bengal has had enough of Delhi's "dadagiri" (a Bengali term meaning "bullying"). “Delhi ka dadagiri amka naka (We don't want Delhi's bullying), enough is enough!” she declared.

She said that her party believes in distributions for the regional parties in elections. Speaking of the upcoming Goa elections, the Bengal chief minister said, “I want the regional parties to be strong, and we want that the federal structure of India to be strong. We should make the states strong. If states are strong, only then shall the Centre be strong.”

In the upcoming assembly elections in Goa, the Trinamool Congress has announced that it will contest all 40 seats.

Kishor, who shot to prominence after helping the TMC retain power in West Bengal earlier this year by giving Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP a rare snub, is now helping Mamata to find a foothold in Goa to contest the election.

Kishor, speaking at a private event two days ago, said, “The BJP is going to be the centre of Indian politics, whether they win, whether they lose - like it was for the first 40 years for Congress. The BJP is going nowhere. Once you secure 30 per cent of the vote at the India-level, you are not going away in a hurry.”

A poll consultancy firm working on behalf of Kishor's Indian Political Action Committee (IPAC) has begun surveys in Goa to help the TMC expand beyond Bengal. To lead the party in elections in Goa, the TMC has taken on former Congress leader Luizinho Faleiro.

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