’Don’t need Mamata’s pity’: INDIA bloc faces fresh hurdle amid Congress-TMC seat sharing row in West Bengal
Cracks within the Opposition INDIA bloc widened this week with the Congress and Trinamool Congress sparring over seat-sharing in West Bengal. Reports indicated that the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC had offered the other party two Lok Sabha seats in the upcoming polls.
Cracks within the Opposition INDIA bloc widened this week with the Congress and Trinamool Congress sparring over seat-sharing in West Bengal. The development came after reports indicated that the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC had offered the other party two Lok Sabha seats in the upcoming polls.
“It is Mamata who needs the Congress to win, not the other way around. We are quite capable of waging a solo fight in the state and winning more seats than we did last time. We are prepared to show as much. We don't need Mamata's pity and are quite capable of retaining these two seats (even if the TMC contests them)” said Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.
The party's West Bengal chief scoffed at the reported allocation, noting that the seats in question were already held by Congress representatives. The TMC won 22 seats while the Congress won two (Behrampore and Malda South) Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 elections.
“We won these seats defeating Mamata Banerjee's TMC and the BJP. Are they doing us a favour? Who will trust her (Mamata) with seat allotment?” he asked.
ALSO READ: TMC offers 2 Lok Sabha seats to Congress in Bengal for 2024 polls: Report
Chowdhury also asserted that the Trinamool Congress was “not serious about strengthening or forging an alliance in Bengal”.
“The TMC is busy pleasing and serving Prime Minister Narendra Modi to protect themselves from the clutches of the CBI and the ED. The Congress is not going to beg before TMC for seats; we don't need their alms. Who are they to decide how many seats the party will contest? If needed, we will fight on our own; let the party high command take a call on it,” he told reporters.
(With inputs from agencies)
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Business NewsPoliticsNews’Don’t need Mamata’s pity’: INDIA bloc faces fresh hurdle amid Congress-TMC seat sharing row in West Bengal
First Published:4 Jan 2024, 07:51 PM IST
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