NEW DELHI: With the Trinamool
Congress
(
TMC
) announcing names of candidates for all 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal,
Mamata Banerjee
on Sunday snuffed out any speculation of a
seat-sharing arrangement
in the state with
INDIA bloc
members.
In reaction to the announcement, the Congress went on the offensive and slammed the "
unilateral
" move.
"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. The Indian National Congress has always wanted the INDIA group to fight the BJP together," Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said on X (formerly Twitter).
"As far as we are concerned, we want to strengthen the INDIA bloc in West Bengal. Mamata Banerjee ji repeatedly said she is with the alliance and she wants to defeat the BJP in West Bengal. But now they have announced all the names. I don't know what pressure they had. Let's see what happens," Ramesh said.
Congress and the TMC had been trying to figure out a seat-sharing arrangement in Bengal for months, but TMC refused to allot the Congress more than 3 seats.
Owing to the tussle, Banerjee did not join the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra passing through Bengal last month.
Message to PMO: Adhir attacks Mamata
Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury launched a fierce attack on the CM, accusing her of sending a message to the PMO by not including Congress in the seat-sharing agreement.
"Mamata Banerjee has proven today that none of the political parties of India should trust a leader like her... Mamata Banerjee is in fear that if she continues to be in the INDIA alliance, PM Modi will be unhappy. By separating herself from the INDIA alliance, she has sent a message to the PMO, don't be unhappy with me, I am not standing to fight against the BJP," said Chowdhury.
'Will go it alone'
Before announcing the names of candidates in a mega rally at Kolkata's Brigade Parade Ground on Sunday, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee declared: "Today, I will bring before you 42 candidates for the 42 Lok Sabha seats in Bengal."
Putting to rest all speculation of a possible tie-up with INDIA bloc in Bengal, Mamata said the TMC will contest elections "alone" in the state, and "will also fight in Assam and Meghalaya". She further said her party was in talks with Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party for contesting in "one Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh".
In its list of candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, Trinamool Congress dropped at least eight sitting MPs and brought in several new faces such as former cricketers Yusuf Pathan and Kirti Azad.
Pathan will contest from the Baharampur Lok Sabha seat, a seat which Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has won five times.
From the Basirhat Lok Sabha seat, where
Sandeshkhali
is situated, Trinamool fielded its former MP Haji Nurul Islam by dropping sitting MP Nusrat Jahan.
(With inputs from agencies)
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