TMC's Abhishek Banerjee has said his party was keen on an alliance with the Congress in Bengal, for which he even went to meet Rahul Gandhi at his residence at 6 am. Abhishek, the nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, asserted that Trinamool Congress candidates are the true representatives of the INDIA bloc in West Bengal.
The TMC is part of the INDIA bloc at the national level but could not finalise seat-sharing with Congress in West Bengal despite repeated attempts from the ruling party in the state. The TMC blamed Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury for the breakdown of talks in the state.
"Had I not been serious, I would not have rushed to Rahul Gandhi's residence in Delhi at 6 am. We were willing to have an alliance with the Congress in Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal, and despite state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury's barbs at our party for months, we did not react for a long time," he said on Saturday.
"We gave Congress time till December but we could not wait indefinitely as we had to make preparations. Till December 31, 2023, not a single spokesperson of our party, including Mamata Banerjee, reacted to what Choudhury was saying," he added. Banerjee said the seat-sharing talks failed because of the state Congress' belligerence.
Adhir Ranjan has on many occasions blasted Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and accused her of weakening the Congress in Bengal. Recently, he stoked controversy after he appealed to people to vote for BJP instead of the TMC.
The Congress, which had won 2 seats in 2019, wanted to contest 7-8 seats as part of the deal. However, the TMC reportedly offered only 2 seats. Later, the chief minister announced that she would contest all Lok Sabha seats.
The TMC is contesting all 42 seats. In 2019, the ruling party had bagged 22 while the BJP won 18.
So far, voting has taken place for six seats - Coochbehar, Alipurduars, Jalpaiguri, Darjeeling, Raiganj, and Balurghat.
In the third phase, four seats - Maldah Uttar, Maldah Dakshin, Jangipur, and Murshidabad - will go to polls on May 7.