West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee said that she will not attend the meeting of INDIA alliance leaders on June 1, days before Lok Sabha election 2024 results will be declared. The meeting also comes a day before Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has to surrender himself in Tihar jail in connection with a money laundering case related to the Delhi excise policy scam.
Addressing an election rally in Kolkata, Banerjee highlighted the post-Cyclone Remal relief work is still underway in West Bengal and she cannot leave the state in such challenging times. Cyclonic storm Remal has claimed 4 lives in West Bengal so far and caused significant damage to infrastructure and property in the state's coastal areas.
"How can I leave everything behind and go? My priority is relief work. Even if I am holding a meeting here, my heart goes out to those people (affected by the cyclonic storm)," news agency PTI quoted Banerjee as saying.
She further said that she would be unable to attend the meeting due to the last phase of the general polls in the state. Voting for nine seats in West Bengal will take place on June 1.
These seats are Kolkata Dakshin, Kolkata Uttar, Diamond Harbour, Jadvapur, Dum Dum, Barasat, Basirhat, Jayanagar, and Mathurapur. She added that there are elections in Punjab, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh as well on that day and voting will continue till 6 pm.
A source within the TMC mentioned that Mamata Banerjee, Abhishek Banerjee and other top leaders of the party will also exercise their right to vote and will, therefore, be unable to attend the INDIA alliance meeting in Delhi. The same has been conveyed to the organisers, the source added.
In January this year, the TMC withdrew itself from the INDIA alliance but affirmed its commitment to be a part of the opposition alliance at the national level. During several election campaigns since March, Banerjee has said the INDIA bloc could win the Lok Sabha elections.
Notably, the Trinamool Congress has been a part of all the INDIA bloc meetings held so far. The first meeting of the INDIA alliance was held in Patna in June last year, followed by meetings in Bengaluru on July 17-18 2023, and in Mumbai between August 31-September 1.
After this, another meeting was held on December 19 last year. The next meeting took place in Delhi on March 31 this year where opposition leaders protested the arrests of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and former Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren. Another such rally was held in Ranchi on April 21 this year.
(With agency inputs)