His remarks come amid ongoing speculation about the party’s future course, which has been grappling with an internal crisis following its defeat in the West Bengal Assembly polls.

“Let me put an end to this fake news about the AITC merging with any other party. Baseless. Yes, that’s the perfect word used by my friend KC Venugopal,” O’Brien told PTI.

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Rumours of a possible merger gathered pace after a series of meetings between senior leaders of the Trinamool Congress and the Congress in New Delhi this week.

TMC chief Mamata Banerjee met Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday, a day after the INDIA bloc meeting in the national capital. The Congress had also released a photograph of the two leaders greeting each other warmly at the opposition alliance meeting.

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While neither side disclosed details of the Mamata-Sonia meeting, sources said Banerjee stressed the need for opposition unity and pitched for the INDIA bloc to work together to take up issues concerning the public and challenge the BJP.

A day later, TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee met the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi.

Sources said the Rahul-Abhishek meeting was part of the ongoing engagement between the Congress and the TMC following discussions held at the INDIA bloc meeting earlier this week.

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Both the Congress and the TMC have dismissed speculation about a merger, describing such reports as baseless and insisting that their recent interactions were aimed at strengthening opposition coordination.