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Mamata Banerjee mounts pressure on Cong, says TMC can contest all Bengal seats
Mamata Banerjee made the statement at a TMC meeting when she was discussing the party strategy for the coming election with Murshidabad leaders
KOLKATA: Weeks after offering to honour the INDIA coalition by not contesting the two West Bengal Lok Sabha seats that the Congress won in 2019, Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee told her party leaders at a party meeting on Friday that the TMC can contest all 42 seats in the state.
TMC functionaries said Banerjee made the statement at her south Kolkata residence where she summoned leaders from Murshidabad district to discuss strategy for the coming election.
Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, a bitter critic of the chief minister, has been winning the Berhampore Lok Sabha seat in Murshidabad since 1999. The district has Bengal’s highest Muslim population of 66.28 %, according to the 2011 census.
However, like the CPI(M), the Congress could not win any assembly seat in Bengal in 2021.
A senior TMC leader who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “Banerjee got agitated when Humayun Kabir, the legislator from Bharatpur, said at the meeting that Chowdhury’s presence was a big factor in Murshidabad. She pulled up Kabir and said Chowdhury was not at all a factor because TMC won all assembly segments in his constituency in 2021 and also the district’s other two Lok Sabha seats, Murshidabad and Jangipur, in 2019.”
“Banerjee said in the same breath that TMC can contest all 42 seats in Bengal,” the leader added.
Kabir made the same point after the meeting.
“In terms of vote share in the 2021 polls, TMC is far ahead of Congress in Berhampore, Murshidabad and Jangipur. Chowdhury is acting like an agent of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is not a factor. TMC can win all 42 seats in Bengal,” said Kabir.
Although Congress and CPI(M) earlier said the INDIA model would not work out in Bengal because they are opposed to both TMC and BJP, Banerjee told the opposition bloc at its December 19 meeting in Delhi that she will not field candidates from Berhampore and the Malda South seat in the adjoining Malda district that the Congress has held since 2009.
Malda district has Bengal’s second-highest Muslim population of 51.27%.
Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury, one of the two brothers of former union minister A B A Ghani Khan Choudhury, holds the Malda South seat.
Mamata Banerjee’s gesture at the INDIA meeting, however, did not lead to Chowdhury backing down. Congress leaders said he told the central leadership that their party would be routed from Bengal if it accepted Banerjee’s proposal instead of contesting eight to ten seats.
Coming days ahead of Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Bengal, Friday’s development added a twist to the ongoing tussle over seat sharing.
Chowdhury recently travelled to Manipur and held a meeting with Rahul Gandhi who said on Tuesday that it will not be difficult to sort out differences with other parties over seat sharing. He, however, did not specifically name Bengal. Some Congress leaders said he advised Chowdhury not to target TMC and Banerjee in public.
Chowdhury could not be contacted for his response. Senior Bengal Congress leader Manoj Chakraborty, a former MLA from Murshidabad, countered Banerjee.
“Whether Banerjee fields 42 or 442 candidates is not an issue but Chowdhury is definitely a factor. It was proved when Congress won the Sagardighi assembly bypoll in Murshidabad last year defeating TMC. Banerjee’s statement has exposed her fears,” Chakraborty said.
TMC leaders feel that Banerjee wants a poll strategy that will prevent the BJP from taking advantage of any split in votes cast by the Muslim community. Bengal’s Muslim population stood at 27.01% during the 2011 census. Swing in Muslim votes influence poll results in at least 120 of Bengal’s 294 assembly segments, surveys have shown.
