The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress on Sunday announced candidates for all 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal, dealing a blow to the Congress party which had hoped to stich up an alliance with the party for upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
While Mamata Banerjee, and her party colleagues, had long ago refuted any chances of alliance with the Congress, the grand-old-party had just a few days ago said that seat-sharing talks were still on.
“The Indian National Congress has repeatedly declared its desire to have a respectable seat-sharing agreement with the TMC in West Bengal. The Indian National Congress has always maintained that such an agreement has to be finalised through negotiations and not by unilateral announcements,” Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said on X (formerly Twitter) soon after TMC list was released at a mega rally in Kolkata.
In fact, taking the contest to another level, the TMC fielded former cricketer Yusuf Pathan from Baharampur, a seat that has been won by the Congress leader and West Bengal unit chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury five times. Though the Congress is yet to name its candidates for Bengal, Chowdhury is likely to seek a recontest from the seat.
“Mamata Banerjee has been saying that TMC is part of INDIA bloc. Yet she released the names. Let’s see what happens, ” Ramesh, General Secretary in-charge, communications, of the Congress party told news agency ANI later.
Also Read : Yusuf Pathan is TMC candidate from Berhampore Lok Sabha seat
TMC was said to have offered Baharampur and another seat to the Congress, but decided to go solo as the grand old party wanted a bigger share of seats.
Fielding Pathan, a popular former cricketer, from Chowdhury’s stronghold is seen as Trinamool’s response to the Congress leader’s repeated attacks on the party.
Pathan joined TMC on Sunday morning at the Kolkata rally.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the TMC had won 22 seats, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 18 while the Congress won two seats. In 2014 general elections, the Mamata Banerjee-led party had won in 34 of the 42 seats in West Bengal.
The dates of Lok Sabha polls to be held in April-May are expected to be announced next week.
Also Read : TMC drops Nussrat Jahan from first list amid Sandeshkhali row
The Mamata Banerjee-led party has been on the backfoot considering the criticism faced over the recent upheaval in Sandeshkhali — where local residents staged violent protests last month accusing now-suspended TMC leader Shahjahan Sheikh and his aides of land grab and sexual harassment. Shahjahan Sheikh has been arrested and is under CBI custody now.
The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), an amalgamation of leading opposition parties came up last year to fight together in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections against the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The inaugural meeting of the Opposition coalition was held in Patna, Bihar on June 23.
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Published: 10 Mar 2024, 03:47 PM IST