Amid verbal spat within the Opposition’s I.N.D.I.A bloc over seat-sharing in West Bengal, TMC chief Mamata Banerjee on Friday (January 19) warned that her party is ready to independently contest all 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state if not given “due importance”. Mamata’s message to her party workers came during a closed-door organisational meeting of the party's Murshidabad district unit – a region with a significant minority population, and traditionally seen as a Congress stronghold. During the meeting, she urged the party workers to gear up for the electoral battle and emphasised the need for the party's victory in all three Lok Sabha seats in the district.
In the 2019 general elections, Congress had managed to retain only the Baharampur seat, where its five-time MP and state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury won the polls.
What did Mamata say?
"Our party supremo Mamata Banerjee clearly stated that the TMC is one of the most important partners of the INDIA bloc. But in Bengal, if RSP, CPI, CPI(M) are given more importance by excluding us, we will carve our own path, and preparations should be made to fight and win in all the 42 seats," a senior TMC leader, requesting anonymity, said.
In West Bengal, TMC, Congress and CPI(M)-led Left Front are part of the Opposition’s 28-party grand alliance. However, in West Bengal, the CPI(M) and Congress have aligned against the TMC and BJP.
“The party chief said that we need to make preparations to win all three Lok Sabha seats. When one of our MLAs, Humayun Kabir, pointed out that Adhir Chowdhury is a factor in the minority-dominated district, Banerjee declined to attach much importance to this assertion, saying TMC will taste success if it puts up a united fight,” another TMC leader said.
The infighting within the I.N.D.I.A bloc has been out in the open in West Bengal with barbs being exchanged between TMC and Congress in public, triggering clouds of worries over the Opposition unity ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
TMC's two-seats offer for Congress
The TMC had reportedly offered two seats to Congress, based on the latter’s performance in the 2019 polls, which was rejected by the grand old party, escalating the matters between the two allies.
Lately, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who has been critical of TMC for a long time, asserted that Congress would not “beg” for seats from the TMC.
In the 2019 elections, the TMC secured 22 seats, Congress won two, and BJP bagged 18 seats in the state.
The TMC last week decided to abstain from an INDIA bloc virtual meeting, and emphasised the necessity for Congress to recognise its limitations in West Bengal and permit the ruling party to spearhead the state's political battle.
The Trinamool Congress 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 of 34 years.
(With PTI inputs)
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