Adhir Chowdhury touches Sonia Gandhi’s feet after gifting her a Gautam Buddha image at the rally in Murshidabad’s Salar on Wednesday. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

April 20: A Congress satrap’s devotion to Sonia Gandhi and disenchantment with the alliance she struck were on full display on a day the party president repeatedly underscored the “importance” of the partnership with the Trinamul Congress.

Adhir Chowdhury, the Murshidabad Congress strongman and MP who has been campaigning for rebel candidates contesting against Trinamul nominees on his turf, touched Sonia’s feet and gifted her an image of Gautam Buddha in the afternoon.

Less than two hours later at 2pm, Adhir answered a phone call from The Telegraph: “Tell me quickly, I am now going to Bhagabangola to campaign for Alamgir.” The line then got disconnected.

Bhagabangola, 100km from the venue where Sonia and Adhir shared the dais, is the place where Syed Alamgir, one of the four rebel candidates supported by the Congress MP, is contesting. Alamgir is also one of the Independents suspended by state Congress president Manas Bhuniya.

At Bhagabangola, Adhir said: “I will continue to campaign for you (Independents). This afternoon, I was with Soniaji in a rally and I spoke to her.” He also assured them that all will be taken back by the party. ( )

But Adhir wore a poker face at the meeting with Sonia in Murshidabad’s Salar, where she made it a point to seek votes for “the alliance”. “In Delhi, the Trinamul Congress is with the Congress. So it is important to vote for the alliance in Bengal as well.”

Unlike her meeting in the state last week, Sonia made the alliance the theme of her speeches today. “Mamata is with us wholeheartedly and we have taken a pledge to free up West Bengal from the Left’s misrule,” Sonia told a rally at Nalhati in Birbhum.

She attended the rally to canvass votes for Abhijit Mukherjee, the Congress candidate from Nalhati and the son of Pranab Mukherjee, and Asit Mal, the party’s candidate from Hansan.

“You will take a crucial decision in a few days. I request you to vote for Congress and Trinamul candidates to kick-start a new phase of development in Bengal,” Sonia said, batting for the alliance.

Although the alliance was struck with the concurrence of 10 Janpath, several Congress leaders are unhappy with the quality and quantity (64 out of 294) of the seats set aside for the party.

Despite the suspension of 23-odd leaders for acting against the interests of the alliance, dissident Congress leaders are in the fray in at least 17 seats — one in Malda, five in Murshidabad, three in North Dinajpur, four in Nadia and one each in Calcutta, South 24-Parganas, Birbhum and Cooch Behar.

Pranab, who accompanied Sonia on her trip through Bengal, told the gathering at Nadia’s Shantipur: “I know a lot of you may have grievances regarding the decision (on the alliance). Many of you may have differences. But I call upon all of you to set them aside for the greatest of good, which is overthrowing the Left.”

Sonia, who got up to speak after Mukherjee, stuck to the theme. “Along with Mamataji, we will throw the Left out of power. You have the power, utilise it.”

Shakeel Ahmed, the central leader in charge of the Bengal Congress, tonight described Adhir’s move as “highly improper”. “It is highly improper. I have come to know that Adhir campaigned for Independents soon after attending Soniaji’s meeting. We will take appropriate action after getting a report from our observers,” Ahmed said.

Party leaders said Sonia took back the Buddha image to Delhi.