Bongaigaon (Assam): Congress appeared on the back foot, attempting to appease TMC shortly after Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee snubbed the grand old party and said her party has decided to go alone in the state in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Addressing a press conference at North Salmara in Assam as part of the party's 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra', Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh said that Banerjee's party Trinamool Congress is an "important pillar" of the opposition alliance. He said no one can imagine the existence of the opposition INDIA bloc without West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee.
Addressing a press conference at North Salmara in Assam as part of the party's 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra', Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh said that Banerjee's party Trinamool Congress is an "important pillar" of the opposition alliance.
"No one can imagine the INDIA alliance without Mamata ji. The INDIA bloc will fight the Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal and all (partners) will participate," he said. "Banerjee said that defeating BJP in the Lok Sabha polls is the prime responsibility of all of us," Ramesh added.
Earlier in the day, Mamata Banerjee announced that her party has decided to go alone in the state in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. "I had given them (Congress) a proposal (on seat-sharing), but they refused it at the outset. Our party has now decided to go alone in Bengal," Banerjee said amid the seat-negotiation tussle between the Congress and the TMC.
The CM also refuted media reports of seat-sharing talks, and asserted that she has not spoken to anyone in the Congress on the issue. "Now, we have decided that there is no relation with the Congress in Bengal," she said. The TMC's offer of two seats to the Congress based on its 2019 Lok Sabha election performance, triggered tension among them, as the arrangement was deemed insufficient, sources said.
The CPI(M)-led Left Front, Congress, and the TMC are part of the 28-party INDIA bloc. The TMC boss also said the party will have no relationship with the Congress in the state. Banerjee's comments come a day ahead the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Nyay Yatra enters West Bengal. "Let the Congress fight 300 seats on its own. The regional parties are together and can contest the rest. However, we will not tolerate any interference by them (Congress) in Bengal," she said.
On the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Nyay Yatra, which is scheduled to enter West Bengal on Thursday, she alleged that the Congress did not inform her about the yatra's itinerary in the state. "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," she said.
The yatra, currently in Assam, is set to enter West Bengal through Bakshirhat in Cooch Behar district on January 25. After a two-day recess on January 26-27, it will traverse Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, Uttar Dinajpur and Darjeeling before reaching Bihar on January 29. It will re-enter West Bengal on January 31 through Malda and travel via Murshidabad, both strongholds of the Congress, before leaving the state on February 1.
Congress state president Adhir Chowdhury, a vocal TMC critic, has maintained that it wouldn't "beg" for seats from Bengal's ruling party. In the 2019 elections, TMC had secured 22 seats, Congress won two, and the BJP bagged 18 seats in the state. The Trinamool Congress had recently abstained from a recent INDIA bloc virtual meeting and emphasised the necessity for Congress to recognise its limitations in Bengal, and permit the TMC to spearhead the state's political battle.
Banerjee had made a similar remark during a recent rally in Kolkata, where she batted for the idea of regional leaders spearheading the fight against the BJP in specific regions, suggesting that Congress independently contest 300 Lok Sabha seats.
Read More
- Another Jolt to INDIA: After Mamata, AAP Says No Alliance with Congress in Punjab
- TMC's decision to go solo in LS polls death knell for INDIA bloc of opposition alliance: BJP
