TMC going all out in Goa, to contest select seats in Manipur, avoids fight in 3 states

The schedule for the Assembly elections in five states namely Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, Uttarakhand, and Punjab has already been announced. While Trinamool Congress is going for an all-out contest in Goa, it might contest from limited constituencies in Manipur. However, in the case of the remaining three states, Trinamool will not either deliberately field any candidate or is not in a position to do so.

Kolkata: The schedule for the Assembly elections in five states namely Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, Uttarakhand, and Punjab has already been announced. While Trinamool Congress is going for an all-out contest in Goa, it might contest from limited constituencies in Manipur. However, in the case of the remaining three states, Trinamool will not either deliberately field any candidate or is not in a position to do so.

Trinamool Congress sources said that the party supremo Mamata Banerjee has taken a conscious decision not to field candidates in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Punjab. In the case of Uttar Pradesh, the decision of not fielding any candidate was taken to express solidarity to Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party. Before the 2021 West Bengal assembly elections, Yadav deliberately did not field any candidate and gave full support to Mamata Banerjee and Trinamool Congress in the polls. Now Trinamool Congress's is returning the favor to Samajwadi Party.

At the same time, Trinamool Congress sources said that Mamata Banerjee might make a couple of tours to Uttar Pradesh to campaign for Samajwadi Party.

In the case of Punjab and Uttarakhand, party sources indicated that Trinamool Congress is not at all in a position to field candidates there. "While taking over as the new national general secretary of Trinamool Congress, Abhishek Banerjee had said that in future the party will contest only in those states where it has victory chances and will not contest just for sake of it. So keeping that strategy in mind, it is almost certain the party leadership will not field candidates in Uttarakhand and Punjab," said a senior party leader on condition of anonymity.

However, Trinamool Congress is going all-out in Goa. The party will contest from 30 out of a total of 40 assembly constituencies in the coastal state. The remaining 10 seats will be reserved for their ally in Goa, Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, It is learnt that Trinamool Congress's vote strategist, Prashant Kishor is currently in Goa. He is supposed to hold a meeting with senior Trinamool Congress leaders who are in charge of Goa. The entire process is being overseen by the party leader in Rajya Sabha, Derek O'Brien.

Trinamool Congress MPs Mohua Moitra, Sushmita Deb and party leader Sourav Chakraborty are in charge of Goa. Currently, discussions are on with the leadership of Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party on the final seat sharing agreement. As of now both parties have agreed on the 30:10 seat sharing formula. Trinamool Congress leadership is currently finalizing the assembly-wise campaign programme in Goa. It is learnt that the final list of candidates might be declared on January 17 and the nomination process will start from January 21.

In case of Manipur, Trinamool Congress will contest only a few constituencies. However, the party leadership is yet to finalize from how many seats they would contest there. "In Manipur, we will field candidates only from those constituencies from where there are chances of victory," a senior party leader said.