KOLKATA: Even as West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday lit into the Congress leadership for letting the BJP gain psychological advantage ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, sources said she would not attend the Opposition INDIA bloc’s meeting scheduled for December 6.
Even her nephew Abhishek Banerjee, who is part of INDIA’s 14-member coordination committee, is likely to skip the meet citing prior engagements. Speaking at the state assembly, Mamata faulted the Congress for fighting polls in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan on its own, which resulted in fragmentation of Opposition votes and benefited the BJP. She said the Congress lost all three states due to lack of seat-sharing arrangements with other the members of the INDIA bloc. It was a “defeat of Congress, not the people”, she emphasised.
“Congress secured victory in Telengana. They would have won Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Rajasthan, too, had the votes of INDIA’s allies not split. We had suggested seat-sharing with the allies but it did not take place,” she said. Going forward, the INDIA bloc will learn lessons and work together before the next general elections to rectify the mistake, she said. Mamata’s remarks appeared to rule out the possibility of Trinamool’s seat-sharing with the Congress in Bengal.