LS Polls 2024: TMC fields ex-cricketer Yusuf Pathan against Adhir Chowdhury from Behrampore

TMC candidate list for Bengal: The TMC has fielded former cricketer Yusuf Pathan from West Bengal's Behrampore Lok Sabha constituency, a seat currently held by Congress state president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. Yusuf Pathan has played for Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL. He will now take on the ardent TMC critic, Adhir Ranjan.

The TMC recently blamed Adhir Ranjan for the collapse of alliance talks with Congress. The Congress and TMC were in talks for an alliance, but talks fell through as Adhir continued attacks on the ruling party and CM Mamata Banerjee. The Congress was also reportedly seeking 8-9 seats, but TMC offered only 2 - the seats the party had won in the 2019 elections.   

The TMC on Sunday announced candidates for all 42 Lok Sabha seats. This came as a big blow to Congress, which was hoping to strike a deal with the TMC. The party has fielded its suspended MP Mahua Moitra from Krishnagar, but has dropped Nushrat Jahan from Basirhat.  

Abhishek Banerjee will contest from Diamond Harbour, Saayoni Ghosh from Jadavpur, Shatrughan Sinha from Asansol, Satabdi Roy from Birbhum, Rachna Banerjee from Hooghly, Mala Roy from Kolkata Dakshin, Haji Nurul Islam from Basirhat, and Saugata Roy from Dum Dum. 

After TMC announced its candidates on all 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh said the grand old party had repeatedly declared its desire to have a respectable seat-sharing agreement with the TMC in West Bengal. "The Congress has always maintained that such an agreement has to be finalised through negotiations and not by unilateral announcements. The Indian National Congress has always wanted the INDIA group to fight the BJP together."