“Mamata Banerjee Fears PM Will Be Upset”: Congress After Ally Breaks Ranks

Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress today announced candidates for all 42 Lok Sabha seats.

In Bengal, snubbing Congress which had just days earlier said that “doors are still open” for seat-sharing talks for the upcoming elections.

The Congress and Trinamool are part of the INDIA bloc – an alliance of opposition parties that had come together to challenge the BJP in the upcoming elections. The snub today is in line with Mamata Banerjee’s declaration that only her party can challenge the BJP in Bengal. The breakdown in talks with Congress over seats was another reason.

“The Indian National Congress has repeatedly declared its desire to have a respectable seat-sharing agreement with the TMC in West Bengal. The Indian National Congress has always maintained that such an agreement has to be finalised through negotiations and not by unilateral announcements,” Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said on X (formerly Twitter).

“The Indian National Congress has always wanted the INDIA group to fight the BJP together,” he added.

The Indian National Congress has repeatedly declared its desire to have a respectable seat-sharing agreement with the TMC in West Bengal. The Indian National Congress has always maintained that such an agreement has to be finalised through negotiations and not by unilateral…

Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury launched a fierce attack on the Chief Minister, accusing her of sending a message to the PMO by not including Congress in the seat-sharing agreement.

“Mamata Banerjee has proven today that none of the political parties of India should trust a leader like her… Mamata Banerjee is in fear that if she continues to be in the INDIA alliance, PM Modi will be unhappy. By separating herself from the INDIA alliance, she has sent a message to the PMO, don’t be unhappy with me, I am not standing to fight against the BJP,” said Mr Chowdhury.