As Mamata Banerjee stunned the INDIA oppositon alliance by announcing that TMC would go solo in West Bengal for the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress on Wednesday said an alliance without the West Bengal Chief Minister “cannot be imagined”.
The party, seemingly as a tactic for damage control, described the Trinamool Congress (TMC) as “a strong pillar” of the Opposition bloc.
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Addressing the media in Assam’s Barpeta, during the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said, “Mamata Banerjee said that we want to defeat BJP and we will do anything to defeat the BJP…Rahul Gandhi clearly said that Mamata ji and TMC are a very strong pillar of the INDIA alliance. We cannot imagine the INDIA alliance without Mamata ji…INDIA alliance will fight like an alliance in West Bengal…Congress president has announced several times that all INDIA alliance parties are invited to join Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra.”
Banerjee was reportedly miffed over the delayed seat-sharing talks in the INDIA bloc.
In a major setback for the opposition’s INDIA alliance, Banerjee declared on Wednesday that her Trinamool Congress (TMC) party will contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections alone in the state. She cited failed seat-sharing talks with the Congress, a key member of the bloc, for her decision to go it alone in the crucial polls.
“Whatever proposal I gave them, they have refused all,” Banerjee said. “Since then, we have decided to go alone in Bengal.”
Banerjee’s announcement comes a day after she traded barbs with Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who criticised the West Bengal Chief Minister, called her an “opportunist” and said that the party would contest the Lok Sabha elections without her assistance.
Chowdhury’s outburst followed reports that the TMC is likely to field candidates in all the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal. Following the spat between the two leaders, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi attempted to mollify Mamata Banerjee, saying that she was “close to him” and Chowdhury’s comments on seat-sharing talks “won’t matter”.
The TMC supremo, however, expressed her displeasure with the Congress, indicating that Rahul Gandhi’s olive branch had not made any impact. She claimed the grand old party did not even inform her about their planned Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in West Bengal. “As a matter of courtesy, they haven’t even informed me they are going to hold a yatra in Bengal,” she stated.
Banerjee’s decision proves to draw a wedge even deeper into the already struggling INDIA alliance that failed to find a common ground in the seat-sharing talks ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.