Kolkata (West Bengal): The war of words between the Congress and Trinamool Congress (TMC) seems to be bereft of any respite with TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee taking a dig at the grand old party over its dismal show in the North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council (NCHAC) polls in Assam's Dima Hasao district.
The second in command of the ruling party in West Bengal asserted that the Congress' seat share aspirations in Bengal were akin to aiming for the 'stars' when they couldn't even hold their ground in their own 'backyard'.
The ruling BJP came up trumps in the North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council (NCHAC) in Assam's Dima Hasao district, bagging 25 seats in the 30-member council elections.
The overall vote share of the BJP stood at 55.52%.
The Congress failed to open its account in the NCHAC polls, with the vote share of just 8.87%. The TMC, on the other hand, contested the polls for the first time bagging 7.63% of the total votes polled.
Taking to his official handle on 'X', Abhishek posted, "Despite contesting NCHAC elections for the first time, @AITC4Assam managed a higher vote share than INC, the primary opposition. One might say their seat share aspirations in Bengal are akin to aiming for the stars when they couldn't quite grasp the ground in their own backyard!" he added.
In the 30-member North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council, 28 members are elected and two are nominated.
Going by the results, the BJP won 25 council seats, including six uncontested, while three were won by independent candidates. The TMC, a key constituent of the INDIA bloc, has proposed 2 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal to the Congress for the general elections which has ruffled feathers in the state unit of the party.
The Congress is peeved at being offered just two seats and has demanded more. In the previous Lok Sabha polls, the TMC won 22 seats, while the BJP caught all unawares bagging 18 seats. The Congress won the remaining two seats.
On Saturday, the virtual meeting of the INDIA bloc - attended by major opposition leaders except for Mamata Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav, and Uddhav Thackeray - concluded with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge being named as the chairperson of the alliance 'unanimously'. Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal (United) national president Nitish Kumar was offered the post of convener of the alliance, formed to take on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. But he is said to have turned down the proposal.", "Meanwhile, soon after the virtual key meeting, Kharge said that the seat-sharing talks are progressing positively. (With ANI inputs)
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