Trinamool not to hold seat-sharing talks with Congress in Delhi: Sources
Congress has been holding seat-sharing talks with I.N.D.I.A bloc members in Delhi. So far, the discussions have taken place with Shiv Sena, NCP, AAP, RJD, and SP. Lok Sabha elections are due to be held in April-May this year.
Lok Sabha Elections 2024: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) will not send its representatives to meet Congress alliance committee members in Delhi to discuss seat-sharing in West Bengal for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, sources said. TMC is one of the members of the I.N.D.I.A bloc.
TMC's stand has been made clear by Mamata Banerjee on seat sharing in Bengal earlier. She had offered two seats to Congress which it won in 2019.
The Congress alliance committee has so far met leaders of Shiv Sena, NCP, AAP, RJD, and SP in Delhi. They were planning to hold discussions with the TMC and JDU in the next few days.
Earlier on Wednesday, Mamata asserted that it will remain part of the I.N.D.I.A bloc in the fight against the BJP, days after fissures appeared in the alliance over seat-sharing disagreement between her party and the Congress.
She conveyed her stance during a closed-door organisational meeting of the TMC’s West Midnapore district unit.
"Our party supremo clearly stated that the TMC would remain in the I.N.D.I.A bloc in the fight against the BJP. Although critical of the CPI(M), she did not utter a single word against the Congress," said a senior TMC official present in the meeting, who did not wish to be named.
The CPI(M), Congress and the TMC collectively constitute the 28-party strong I.N.D.I.A bloc. However, in West Bengal, the CPI(M) and Congress have allied against the TMC and BJP.
Banerjee’s statement follows TMC’s Lok Sabha Party leader Sudip Bandopadhyay's recent remark that the party has an "open heart" for the Congress regarding seat-sharing in West Bengal for the Lok Sabha election, but is also prepared to go solo if negotiations fail.
Wednesday’s development coincided with state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, a vocal TMC critic, asserting it wouldn't "beg" for seats from Bengal’s ruling party. Multiple sources confirmed that the TMC was contemplating allocating four out of the state's 42 Lok Sabha seats to the Congress.
In the 2019 elections, TMC secured 22 seats, Congress won two, and BJP bagged 18 seats in the state.
The TMC had previously allied with the Congress in the 2001 assembly polls, 2009 Lok Sabha elections, and the 2011 assembly polls, leading to the ousting of the CPI(M)-led Left Front government after 34 years.