Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the leader of the West Bengal Congress, has taken aim at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, claiming that she is "busy serving" Prime Minister Narendra Modi, indicating a rift within the Opposition INDIA group over seat-sharing. Chowdhury added that Banerjee was not interested in forming an alliance with the Congress and that the historic party may run a solo campaign in the general election.
According to sources, the Congress leader made the remarks in response to a question regarding the Trinamool Congress (TMC) offering the Congress two seats in West Bengal for the next Lok Sabha elections. According to sources who spoke with India Today TV, the TMC thought that the state's ruling party ought to have the last say when it came to seat-sharing. The seat-sharing figure is determined by a precise formula that takes into account the results of state assembly votes as well as the next parliamentary election.
Ms. Banerjee was accused by Mr. Chowdhury last week of ruining the partnership in Bengal. "Because an alliance will provide challenges, the chief minister of West Bengal is opposed to it. If there is an alliance, the duty that has been placed upon her will encounter difficulties. No objections from us... Bengali elections might be fought by the Congress alone."
However, the Congress has missed its deadline for holding seat-sharing talks, and the Trinamool is growing more and more irate. The Congress being granted six seats in Bengal is something that Mamata Banerjee's party is not interested in pursuing. A minimum of six seats, including those in Raiganj, Murshidabad, and Malda, are reportedly on the Congress's menu for contention.
"INDIA alliance will be present in entire India and in Bengal the Trinamool Congress will fight. In Bengal it is only the Trinamool Congress that can teach the BJP a lesson. It can show the entire country the path to victory, not any other party," she has stated.
