E-Paper
Mamata Banerjee says TMC will contest Lok Sabha polls on its own
Expressing confidence in her party, the TMC supremo said they will alone defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said the Trinamool Congress (TMC) will fight the Lok Sabha elections in the state on its own virtually ending the talks on seat sharing among INDIA coalition partners in the state.
“We have no relation with anybody in the state,” the chief minister said on her way to an administrative meeting.
“We said Congress can contest 300 (of India’s 543) seats. They refused our proposals. We have decided to fight alone in Bengal,” Banerjee said.
Her comments came a day after senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said in Assam that he and his party share “a very good relationship” with Banerjee, adding that critical remarks from either side will not affect seat sharing talks for the coming polls.
“Our negotiations over seats are on. The conclusion will be evident. I don’t want to comment on that here. I have a very good personal relationship with Mamata Ji and so does our party,” Rahul Gandhi said.
Also Read:‘Have good relation with Mamata Ji’: Rahul Gandhi after TMC chief’s INDIA remark
Asked whether TMC state functionaries will take part in Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Bengal which is scheduled to start on Thursday, Banerjee said, “We were not even informed that it is happening in Bengal.”
Reacting to Banerjee’s comments, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh described TMC as a pillar of the INDIA group and said he cannot imagine the alliance without her.
Ramesh said, “TMC is a pillar of the INDIA coalition. We cannot imagine this coalition without Mamata Ji in it. We are entering West Bengal tomorrow. The talks on seat sharing are on and it will yield some result that will satisfy everybody. We have very high regards for Mamata Ji. She said her principal goal is to defeat BJP. The Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra will enter Bengal’s Cooch Behar tomorrow with that goal.”
Ramesh was also asked whether TMC was not invited to join the yatra or not, to which he replied, “Such invitations are not sent from my level. As far as I know the Congress president, Rahul Ji and other leaders much have discussed this. The Congress president invited leaders of all parties while delivering three to four speeches. We saw opposition leaders and workers joining the Yatra in Manipur, Nagaland and Assam over the last 10 days.”
On Monday, Banerjee targeted the CPI(M) from her interfaith rally in Kolkata but did not name the Congress.
“It was I who coined the name INDIA. But I am sorry to say that whenever I attend the meetings, CPI(M) controls them. This is extremely sad. I feel insulted. I fought them (Left) for 34 years when they were in power in Bengal. I will not follow their advice,” she said.
TMC leaders have alleged several times in recent weeks that Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury continues to target the chief minister although she said at an INDIA group meet on December 19 that she will not field candidates from Berhampore and Malda South seats that Congress controls.
Chowdhury, who has been winning from Berhampore since 1999, has said alongside CPI(M) leaders that the INDIA model will not work in Bengal because they are opposed to both TMC and BJP.
Without naming Chowdhury on Tuesday, Rahul Gandhi said: “Sometimes people from our side say something and sometimes they say something. These are natural things. These are not going to disrupt anything.”
