KOLKATA: Sending INDIA bloc partners into a tizzy, Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday sent out a loud and clear message that her party will fight in the upcoming general elections independently in Bengal.
Threatening to pull the plug on opposition alliance, Bengal’s firebrand politician slammed the Congress for not informing her about Rahul Gandhi’s Nyay Yatra passing through Bengal.
“We will fight in Bengal alone. I am not concerned about what will be done in the country but we are a secular party and we will defeat the BJP in Bengal alone,” said Mamata before chairing an administrative meeting in East Burdwan district.
Rubbishing Rahul Gandhi’s claim 24-hour ago that talks were on for seat sharing in Bengal, Mamata said, “I had no discussions with the Congress party. I gave many proposals but they rejected them from the beginning. We don’t need anyone. We will fight in the Lok Sabha elections alone.”
The Bengal chief minister, in a combat mood, warned the Congress saying she would not tolerate the grand old party’s “interference”.
“Let the Congress fight 300 seats on its own. The regional parties are united and they can contest in the rest. We will not tolerate any interference by them (Congress)," she said.
Clearly expressing her discontent about Rahul Gandhi’s march event, Mamata said, “For the sake of alliance, I could have been informed about the schedule of Nyay Yatra in West Bengal. But I was told nothing.”
While addressing a rally in Kolkata on the day of the consecration ceremony in Ayodhya, after leading an inter-faith march, Mamata had slammed the Left Front, an INDIA bloc partner, for dictating the agenda of the alliance.
A day before Mamata’s loud and clear message making it clear that her party will fight along in the general elections, Congress chief of Bengal chapter Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury called Mamata an “opportunist” adding that the grand old party knows how to contest elections on its own.
This time, the elections will not be fought at the mercy of Mamata Banerjee. She came to power in 2011 in Bengal with the mercy of Congress. The Congress party knows how to contest the elections,” said Chowdhury, who is an open critic of the Bengal chief minister.
Recently, there was a murmur in the Bengal’s political landscape that Mamata agreed not to contest two seats which the Congress had won in 2019. But Chowdhury said his party was capable of challenging the BJP and any other party in at least six to seven seats.
The CPI(M) described Mamata’s decision to fight alone in Bengal is an evidence that proves the TMC is actually aiming to ensure BJP’s benefits.
