TMC to fight it alone in West Bengal, says Mamata Banerjee, after failed seat-sharing talks with Congress

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced on Wednesday that her party, Trinamool Congress (TMC), will contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections alone and not as part of the INDIA bloc. She said her decision to fight the elections is due to failed seat-sharing talks with Congress. 

"Whatever proposal I gave them, they have refused all…Since then, we have decided to go alone in Bengal,” she said.

The decision to part ways with the Opposition alliance comes after Banerjee and Congress’ Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury took barbs at each other. Banerjee criticised Congress’ “unjustified” demand for 10-12 Lok Sabha seats, while Chowdhury said that the grand old party would not “beg” for seats.

Meanwhile, BJP leader Amit Malviya said that the West Bengal CM’s decision to fight alone is a “sign of desperation”. “Mamata Banerjee’s decision to fight alone in West Bengal is a sign of desperation. Unable to hold her political ground, she wants to fight all seats, in the hope that she can still be relevant, after the polls. Much against her desire to emerge as the face of the Opposition alliance, no one ever proposed her name. Her several trips to Delhi, to build a national profile, didn’t work. She just couldn’t hide the blood of post poll violence and rid herself of the nauseating stink of appeasement politics,”  said Malviya on her pitch for Mallikarjun Kharge as the face of the alliance.

Mamata Banerjee had conveyed her decision to fight alone during a closed-door meeting of the party at Birbhum. She also asked the party leaders to gear up for the electoral battle. 

TMC had offered two seats for Congress, based on their performance at the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. TMC had bagged 22 seats and BJP 18. West Bengal has 42 Lok Sabha seats. 

The CPI (M)-led Left Front, Congress and TMC are part of the 28-party opposition INDIA bloc. But in West Bengal, the CPI (M) and Congress have aligned against the TMC and the BJP.

The TMC had previously allied with the Congress in the 2001 assembly polls and the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. The two parties again fought the 2011 assembly polls together, leading to the ousting of the CPI(M)-led Left Front government after 34 years.                          

The TMC emphasised on Congress needing to recognise its limitations in West Bengal and allow them to spearhead the state's political battle.

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