Mamata: No alliance with Cong in Bengal

Trinamul Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday made it clear that her party will not have any electoral alliance with the Congress for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and will field candidates in all the seats in West Bengal. Miss Banerjee’s declaration came a day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi who is on his party’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra said that seatsharing talks were ongoing with the Trinamul Congress and there would be an alliance in Bengal. Miss Banerjee who is a key leader of the INDIA bloc, said: “I have always said let Congress fight in 300 seats while the regional parties will field their candidates where they are strong.

We will not tolerate any kind of interference.” She said: “They did not even bother to inform me that they (the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra) will be coming to West Bengal as a matter of courtesy even though I am a part of the INDIA bloc. So there is no relation with me as far as Bengal is concerned.” “I had no discussions with the Congress party. I have always said that in Bengal, we will fight alone.

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I am not concerned about what will be done in the country but we are a secular party and in Bengal, we will alone will defeat BJP.” Miss Banerjee said. Miss Banerjee while addressing the MLAS from Murshidabad some days ago had said that the Trinamul Congress would field candidates in Murshidabad, the home-ground of Congress MP and PCC president Adhir Chowdhury.

“Put Adhir Chowdhury out of your mind and work together and it is not a problem at all to defeat him,” Miss Banerjee had said. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress had won two seats, namely Behrampur in Murshidabad and Malda. But over the years there has been massive erosion of the Congress’s vote bank in both Malda and Murshidabad. Political observers also say that Miss Banerjee’s move will put the BJP in a tight spot.

The BJP depended heavily on votes from CPI-M supporters in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. With the CPI-M having an alliance with Congress and the party getting some oxygen following the Brigade meeting of DYFI, the transfer of such votes to BJP will be minimal, the observers said. On the other hand, they said, staunch supporters of Congress do not accept the alliance as they feel that the CPI-M had killed hundreds of its supporters in 34 years of Left rule in the state, and they will either abstain from voting or vote for the Trinamul Congress. In both cases the TMC will benefit.

The BJP’s organisation in Bengal is weak and in the Panchayat election the party was routed. Against this backdrop, the decision of Miss Banerjee will put Trinamul Congress two steps ahead of its opponents in ther ensuing Lok Sabha elections