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Blow to INDIA bloc as Mamata says TMC to go solo in Bengal

CM Mamata Banerjee addresses a gathering in Bardhaman. PTI

Tribune News Service

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, January 24

The anti-BJP INDIA bloc took a hit on Wednesday with Trinamool Congress (TMC) president Mamata Banerjee declaring her party’s decision to go solo in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal.

Editorial: Rahul yatra

The West Bengal Chief Minister blamed the Congress for delaying seat-sharing agreement (TMC had set the December 31, 2023, deadline) and said she had sent a proposal which the Congress rejected.

“I had sent a proposal, but they turned it down. Our party has now decided to go it alone in Bengal....We have no relation with the Congress in Bengal,” Mamata said on Wednesday, quitting seat-sharing parleys among INDIA partners — Trinamool, Congress and the CPM — in the state.

Mamata had earlier told the Congress to contest 300 Lok Sabha seats nationally and let dominant regional parties (AAP, TMC, JD(U), RJD & DMK) fight the rest to defeat the BJP. She has also been cross with the Congress and Rahul Gandhi’s proximity with CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury and feels the CPM is controlling INDIA strategy in the state.

Snubbing the opposition bloc in Bengal, Mamata today clarified that she was very much a part of it nationally.

“At the national level, we, as a part of the INDIA bloc, will decide our strategy after the polls. All regional parties will stay united. The opposition front doesn’t belong to any single party. We will do whatever it takes to defeat the BJP,” she said, blaming the Congress and the CPM for “aiding the BJP in Bengal”. On the Congress’ ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’, which is scheduled to enter West Bengal on Thursday, she said,

“As a gesture of courtesy, did they (Congress) let me know that they are coming to Bengal for the yatra? I am not aware of it.” TMC sources say the Congress vote share was less than five per cent in the 2019 General Election with just two seats out of a total 42 while the CPM drew a blank. “Let the Congress fight 300 seats. Regional parties can contest the rest. We will not tolerate any interference in Bengal,” Mamata has argued.

However, the Congress has rejected the two-seat offer and wants at least six which the TMC is not ready to cede.

Mamata feels she must contest 40 of the 42 seats on her own to regain the base the TMC lost to the BJP in 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The BJP won 18 segments in 2019 close behind the TMC’s 22.

West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has openly said his party party “won’t beg for seats and knows how to fight and win”.

Mamata is also upset with Adhir who keeps attacking her publicly. A complaint to Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge about Adhir also did not help rein in the leader, it is learnt. Add to that Mamata’s discomfort over the CPM’s hold on the Congress in Bengal.

In the past, though, Mamata gained spectacularly in Bengal when she contested the 2009 Lok Sabha and 2011 state polls in alliance with the Congress. After the 2009 polls, she joined the UPA-II as Railway Minister along with six Ministers of State. After winning the 2011 Bengal polls, she resigned from the Union Cabinet and became the CM. In October 2012, she left the UPA-II and became totally independent.

A quintessential rebel, Mamata had quit the Congress protesting its diffidence in the face of Bengal’s ruling Left which was harassing Congress workers in the state. She formed the TMC in 1998. Until the BJP’s Bengal rise in 2019 LS polls, Mamata’s whole politics in the state has been anti-Left.

TMC important pillar of alliance
No one can imagine the existence of INDIA bloc without Mamata Banerjee. She is an important pillar of the alliance. Jairam Ramesh, Cong
Pan-India strategy after polls
At the national level, we, as a part of INDIA bloc, will decide our strategy after the polls. Mamata Banerjee, TMC president

Congress bagged only 2 seats in 2019

The CPM, which had 15 Lok Sabha seats in Bengal in 2009, was down to two in 2014 and zero in 2019. The Congress fell from six in 2009 to four in 2014 and two in 2019.

Mann too rules out pact with Cong

Aam Aadmi Party will contest the General Election independently in Punjab, said Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday. “There will be no alliance with the Congress in Punjab,” said Mann.

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