The Congress on Friday said that it wants to work with the Trinamool Congress, two days after Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi severely criticised the Mamata Banerjee-led party, NDTV reported.

On February 22, Gandhi had accused the Trinamool Congress of helping the Bharatiya Janata Party in Goa and in Meghalaya to defeat the Congress in Assembly elections.

“You know the history of the TMC, the violence and scams that take place in West Bengal,” Gandhi had said while addressing a rally in Shillong. “You are aware of their tradition. They spent a huge amount of money in Goa [elections] and the idea was to help the BJP. That is exactly the idea in Meghalaya. The TMC’s idea in Meghalaya is to ensure that the BJP is strengthened and come to power.”

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Assembly elections will be held in Meghalaya on February 27.

The comments drew a sharp reaction from Lok Sabha MP Abhishek Banerjee.

“Congress has failed to resist BJP,” the Trinamool Congress’ national general secretary tweeted. “Their irrelevance, incompetence and insecurity has put them in a state of delirium. I urge Rahul Gandhi to revisit their politics of vanity instead of attacking us. Our growth isn’t driven by money, it is people’s love that propels us.”

However, on Friday, Veerappa Moily, chairperson of the Congress’s Political Affairs Committee which deals with alliances, said that the party will hold talks with Banerjee and other leaders of Opposition parties for the 2024 elections.

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“We will sort out issues and work with Mamata, Nitish Kumar and K Chandrashekar Rao,” Moily told NDTV. “We need to lead the alliance, and we will work together and ensure all come together. Congress needs to be strengthened and only when we are strong, can we lead.”

The Congress is currently holding its three-day plenary session in Raipur, where the party is expected to take key decisions on laying out the roadmap for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Ahead of the session, on February 22, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said that the party will form the government at the Centre in 2024 along with its allies.