New Delhi: Troubles for the INDI alliance continue to mount as the Lok Sabha Elections draw near. The alliance has yet to reach a consensus on seat-sharing for the parties in several states, with less than three months remaining until the polls.
Earlier, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena in Maharashtra showed reluctance in sharing seats with the Congress. Now, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee has indicated that her party, Trinamool Congress, will contest the election on all 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state independently.
On Friday, Mamata Banerjee said that if “due importance” is not given, her party is prepared to contest the election on all 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state independently. Banerjee expressed her stance during a closed-door organizational meeting of the party’s Murshidabad district unit.
During the meeting, she emphasized the imperative for TMC’s triumph on all three Lok Sabha seats in the district and urged party leaders to be prepared for the electoral battle. In the 2019 elections, the Congress only managed to retain the Baharampur seat, where its five-time MP and state party president Adhir Ranjan Choudhary stood.
Meanwhile, TMC sources revealed that Mamata Banerjee clearly stated that TMC is a crucial partner in the alliance. However, in Bengal, if RSP, CPI, CPI(M) are given more importance, excluding us, then the party will carve its own path. Preparations should be made to contest and win all 42 seats. The CPI(M)-led Left Front, Congress, and TMC collectively constitute the opposition alliance ‘India.’ However, in West Bengal, CPI(M) and Congress have formed an alliance against TMC and BJP.
Conversely, tensions within the ‘India’ alliance have surfaced over seat allocation for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal, particularly between pivotal allies Congress and TMC. The Congress deemed TMC’s proposal of two seats, determined by the 2019 Lok Sabha election outcomes, insufficient, intensifying the discord between the two parties. Banerjee’s remarks followed closely after Chaudhary, a vocal critic of TMC, asserted that Congress would not “beg” for seats from the Trinamool Congress.