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INDIA fissures widen: Mamata Banerjee says she doubts Congress will win ‘even 40 seats’ in Lok Sabha polls
Mamata Banerjee's latest attack against INDIA bloc ally Congress came a day after she said TMC will contest all the 42 Lok Sabha seats in Bengal alone.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday lashed out at INDIA ally Congress, saying she doubts whether the grand old party would be able to win even 40 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The attack comes days after the Trinamool Congress chief announced her decision to contest all 42 seats in her state alone in the general elections, dealing a major blow to the opposition alliance.
“I doubt if you (Congress) will win 40. I was offering two seats and would have let them win. But they wanted more. I said okay, contest on all 42 then. Rejected! There has been no conversation with them since,” ANI quoted Banerjee as saying.
ALSO READ: Mamata Banerjee attacks Congress-CPI(M) tie-up, says 'won't share single seat' in West Bengal
Expressing her disappointment after learning about Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra through unofficial channels, she said,"They have come to do a programme in Bengal but did not even inform me as an INDIA bloc member. I got to know through administrative sources. They had called Derek to request that the rally be allowed to pass through."
Few days ago, Gandhi had said that Mamata Banerjee is ‘close to him and the party’, this amid the seat sharing tussle between the two parties.
“The negotiations on seat-sharing are underway, I don't want to comment here. But Mamata Banerjee is very close to me and our party. Sometimes our leaders say something, their leaders say something, and it goes on. It's a natural thing," Rahul Gandhi had said in Assam.
‘If you have courage, defeat BJP in Banaras’
Mamata Banerjee has also challenged the Congress to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. "If you have the courage, defeat the BJP in UP, Banaras, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh," Banerjee said.
ALSO READ: No seats for Congress if it doesn’t sever ties with Left: Mamata
She ruled out an alliance with arch-rival CPI (M), claiming that it perpetrated killings of opposition activists during their rule in the state. Both CPM and Congress are members of the INDIA bloc.
The TMC has time and again accused the Congress over delaying seat sharing talks. Further, continuous attacks by grand old party's Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on the CM have evoked strong reactions from the TMC.
