In a no-holds-barred attack against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, whose Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra is currently passing through West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday referred to the Wayanad MP as a “migratory bird” who indulges in photo-ops in a scenario where his party may not even win 40 seats in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

Days after snapping ties with the Congress, Mamata wondered where the party drew its “arrogance” from in an address in Bengal’s Murshidabad today. “I don’t know if you (Congress) will win 40 seats out of 300. Why such arrogance? You came to Bengal (for the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra), we are an INDIA alliance. At least tell me. I came to know from the administration. They called Derek (O’Brien) to request that the rally be allowed to pass through,” Mamata said.

“A new trend of photo shoots has emerged these days. Those who have never visited a tea shop now want to show they sit with beedi workers. They are all migratory birds,” Mamata said in an apparent reference to Rahul’s interaction with beedi workers during his ongoing Bengal leg of the Yatra.

The development signifies the growing strains between the two parties who have been at loggerheads on the issue of seat-sharing in West Bengal. Mamata’s outburst today also highlights her own unease in the Congress cosying up to the CPI(M), the Trinamool’s bete noire. The apprehension is that the Congress-Left combine can cut into Mamata’s votes and indirectly benefit the BJP.

This is perhaps why Mamata has been quick to dismiss the claims by Congress’ central leadership that the TMC continued to be part of the INDIA bloc in Bengal and that talks for seat-sharing were still underway. While much of the Trinamool’s recent attacks against the Congress were measured and directed to state unit leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Mamata’s direct offensive suggests that the possibility of a pre-poll Congress-TMC pact was negligible.

For the Congress, Bengal comes as another challenge within the alliance with troubles already mounting with the AAP in Punjab and the Shiv Sena (UBT) in Maharashtra. The exit of Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) from the INDIA bloc was the biggest setback for the Congress after the December 3 setback in polls in Hindi-heartland states. With Mamata taking the attack to Rahul, the woes of the Congress have only multiplied.