Bengal conundrum plaguing INDIA Bloc? Mediainsights.in

Notably, the TMC versus Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury skirmish had been broiling for quite sometime, also considering both parties have been rivals since Mamata Banerjee won the first state Assembly Elections. 

Reportedly Mamata Banerjee was willing to offer no more than two seats to Congress from West Bengal, which was rejected by Adhir Chowdhury, the Congress leader from the state. 

With Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) as the sworn rival for the 2024 Lok Sabha Polls, the INDIA bloc in West Bengal seems like a pipedream, possibly impossible to achieve. 

Here is a breakdown

CPI(M) versus TMC

The age-old rivalry between CPI(M) and TMC is an anecdote unfamiliar to none. Therefore it seemed evident that these parties would have the biggest trouble joining hands for West Bengal. Attesting to this belief, it was reported that CPI(M) refused to join Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in West Bengal, if TMC joins. 

According to Indian Express, a senior AICC member had called Bengal CPI(M)’s state secretary Mohammad Salim from Delhi Sunday to invite him to join the Yatra when it enters the state.

Salim told the Indian Express that CPI(M) would give its complete support to Rahul Gandhi’s Nyay Yatra. However, the communist party refused to join “any political force who helped BJP to grow their organisation in West Bengal”.

“It is Trinamool Congress which paved the way for BJP in Bengal to expand its organisation.” Salim told Indian Express. 

TMC on INDIA bloc seat sharing

The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress has often vowed to go ‘solo’, but refused to share more than two seats with Congress in West Bengal. TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday announced that her party has decided to go alone in the state in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

“I had given them (Congress) a proposal (on seat sharing) but they refused it at the outset. Our party has now decided to go alone in Bengal,” Banerjee said amid the seat-sharing tussle between the Congress and the TMC.

The CM also asserted that she has not spoken to anyone in the Congress on the seat-sharing issue.

The TMC’s offer of two seats to the grand old party based on its 2019 Lok Sabha election performance, triggered tension among them, as the arrangement was deemed insufficient.

Adhir Chowdhury on TMC, Mamata Banerjee

Bengal Congress leader Adhir Chowdhury has often infamously launched attacks on Mamata Banerjee. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Tuesday doubled down on his attack on Banerjee over the distribution of seats for Lok Sabha election. 

Targeting the Trinamool Congress supremo, Chowdhury called Mamata Banerjee an “opportunist” and said the elections would not be fought at her mercy.

“This time, the elections will not be fought at the mercy of Mamata Banerjee. The Congress defeated the BJP and TMC in the two seats that Mamata Banerjee is leaving. The Congress party knows how to contest the elections. Mamata Banerjee is an opportunist; she came to power in 2011, with the mercy of Congress,” the state Congress president said at a press conference.

Rahul Gandhi on TMC, Mamata Banerjee

Rahul Gandhi who is in Assam as part of his Nyay Yatra tried to quell the damage been done by Adhir Chowdhury’s repeated attacks by insisting that he had a good relationship with TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee.

“The negotiations on seat-sharing is underway, I don’t want to comment here. But Mamata Banerjee is very close to me and our party. Sometimes our leaders say something, their leaders say something, and it goes on. It’s a natural thing. Such comments won’t matter and these are not things that are going to disrupt things,” Rahul Gandhi had said on Tuesday.

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Published: 24 Jan 2024, 03:35 PM IST