The Trinamool Congress will contest the elections for Bengal’s 42 Lok Sabha seats by itself steam, and solely contemplate an pan-India alliance with the Congress after outcomes are declared, a livid Mamata Banerjee declared Wednesday. Ms Banerjee’s phrases ship what seems to be a closing blow to hopes the 2 events – broadly seen as necessary members of the INDIA opposition bloc – will attain any settlement.
“I’ve no relations with the Congress… we are going to struggle alone (and) will determine on an all-India degree after the election,” the Bengal Chief Minister mentioned, saying she has not spoken to the Congress about agreements.
In additional indicators of fraying tempers, she additionally hit out at Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and his ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’, which can enter Bengal Thursday however may skip Kolkata.
“They’re coming to my state… however didn’t have courtesy to tell me…” she instructed reporters.
Ms Banerjee has an excellent rapport with Congress matriarch Sonia Gandhi, however her ties with Mr Gandhi are seen as strained. She has made it clear, earlier too, she is towards permitting her ‘ally’ to contest in Bengal.
“INDIA will likely be current in India (however) in Bengal the Trinamool Congress will struggle. In Bengal it’s only Trinamool that may train the BJP a lesson. It could possibly present your entire nation the trail to victory… not another social gathering,” she has mentioned up to now.
The Trinamool vs Congress squabble over seat-sharing, and the bigger image of how the Congress-led INDIA bloc may most successfully defeat Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his BJP, has rumbled on for weeks with no obvious decision. Neither social gathering appears keen to again down, and the Congress has, to this point, ignored the Trinamool’s deadlines to shut a deal.
On Tuesday Ms Banerjee criticised the Congress’ “unjustified” demand for 10-12 Lok Sabha seats in her state; she had supplied two, pointing to the Congress’ abysmal document within the state. The social gathering gained 4 seats in 2014 and solely two in 2019.
A senior Trinamool chief, on situation of anonymity, confirmed this to information company PTI, saying, “(Ms Banerjee) mentioned we do not want to consider seat-sharing with the Congress… she mentioned she supplied two seats however they had been demanding 10-12”.
Trinamool spokesperson Kunal Ghosh final week warned the Congress towards “unjustified bargaining on this matter”.
In the meantime, Ms Banerjee, in a present of power, has directed social gathering leaders in Birbhum and Murshidabad district to start planning for the Lok Sabha election on their very own. The latter is essential as a result of it holds Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury’s constituency; Mr Chowdhury, the Congress’ state unit boss, is fiercely against sharing seats with the Trinamool.
The Congress chief has repeatedly attacked Ms Banerjee and her social gathering, regardless of efforts from central leaders on either side to sew collectively an alliance. Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, requested about these assaults, performed them down, insisting “Mamata Banerjee may be very near me and our social gathering” and that it’s “pure”, typically, for the 2 sides to criticise one another.
“However they aren’t going to disrupt the relations between the Congress and the TMC,” he insisted.
In the meantime, away from Bengal, the Trinamool can be sad over the Congress’ obvious refusal to play second fiddle to regional events when required. The Congress has already been criticised for this by Samajwadi Occasion chief Akhilesh Yadav after it refused to share seats for November’s Madhya Pradesh Meeting election, wherein the Congress was thumped.
Ms Banerjee on Monday mentioned the Congress was welcome to struggle 300 seats by itself, however urged the social gathering to give up seats specifically areas to regional events that may have one of the best likelihood of successful, and, subsequently, defeat the BJP.
“Explicit areas needs to be left to regional events. They’ll struggle 300 seats alone… I’ll assist them, I cannot contest these seats… however they’re adamant about doing what they need,” she mentioned, “I’ve the facility to tackle the BJP, however some individuals do not need to take heed to us about seat-sharing. In the event you do not need to struggle the BJP, then at the very least do not give away seats to it.”
Ms Banerjee is likely one of the few opposition leaders to have loved electoral success towards the BJP in recent times, after orchestrating an announcement win over the saffron social gathering within the final Meeting election. In 2019 too she ensured her social gathering had an edge, successful 22 seats. That, although, was lower than the 34 from 5 years in the past. Ominously, BJP went from two to 18.
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