Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress on Sunday announced candidates for all 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal, shocking the Congress party which had hoped to form an alliance with the party for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
While Mamata Banerjee and her party colleagues had long ago ruled out any possibility of an alliance with the Congress, the grand old party had just a few days ago said that talks on seat-sharing were still on.
The Congress said, “The Indian National Congress has repeatedly expressed 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 should be finalized through negotiations.” We need it, not through unilateral announcements.” leader Jairam Ramesh said on X (formerly Twitter) soon after the release of the TMC list at a mega rally in Kolkata.
In fact, taking the contest to another level, TMC has fielded former cricketer Yusuf Pathan from Baharampur, a seat Congress leader and West Bengal unit chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has won five times. Although Congress has not yet announced its candidates for Bengal, Chaudhary may seek re-election from this seat.
“Mamata Banerjee has been saying that TMC is part of the India block. Still he released the names. Let’s see what happens,” Congress party general secretary in-charge of communications Ramesh later told news agency ANI.
Also read: Yusuf Pathan is TMC candidate from Berhampur Lok Sabha seat.
TMC is said to have offered Baharampur and one other seat to Congress, but it decided to contest alone as the grand old party wanted a larger share of the seats.
Fielding Pathan, a popular former cricketer, from Chaudhary’s stronghold is being seen as Trinamool’s response to the Congress leader’s repeated attacks on the party.
Pathan joined TMC in the Kolkata rally on Sunday morning.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, TMC had won 22 seats, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had won 18 seats while Congress had won two seats. In the 2014 general elections, the Mamata Banerjee-led party won 34 out of 42 seats in West Bengal.
The dates for the Lok Sabha elections to be held in April-May are expected to be announced next week.
Also read: Amid Sandeshkhali controversy, TMC removes Nusrat Jahan from the first list
The Mamata Banerjee-led party is on the back foot in the face of criticism over the recent turmoil in Sandeshkhali – where local residents last month staged violent protests accusing suspended TMC leader Shahjahan Shaikh and his associates of land-grabbing and sexual harassment. was performed. Shahjahan Shaikh has been arrested and is now in CBI custody.
The Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), an alliance of major opposition parties, came together last year to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections against the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The inaugural meeting of the opposition alliance was held on 23 June in Patna, Bihar.
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Published: March 10, 2024, 03:47 PM IST
