Kolkata: Explaining the reason for deciding to go alone in the state for the Lok Sabha poll, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said, "I had given them (Congress) a proposal (on seat-sharing), but they refused it at the outset. Our party has now decided to go alone in Bengal," Banerjee said.
Banerjee's comments a day before Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra will enter West Bengal caught the grand old party off guard.
Reacting to Banerjee’s statement, the Congress said, "No one can imagine the existence of the I.N.D.I.A bloc without West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee."
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a press conference in Assam that Trinamool Congress is an 'important pillar' of the alliance. "The INDIA bloc will fight the Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal and all (partners) will participate," he said.
Denying reports that TMC and Congress are in talks for seat-sharing, Banerjee asserted that she has not spoken to anyone in the Congress on the issue. “Now, we have decided that there will be no relation with the Congress in Bengal," she said.
According to sources, the TMC's offer of two seats to the Congress based on its 2019 Lok Sabha election performance, triggered tension as the arrangement was deemed insufficient.
"Let the Congress fight 300 seats on its own (in the country). The regional parties are together and can contest the rest. However, we will not tolerate any interference by them (Congress) in Bengal," she said.
Expressing her commitment to the opposition alliance, Banerjee said, "At the national level, we, as a part of the I.N.D.I.A bloc, will decide our strategy after the elections. All the regional parties will stay united and the opposition front doesn't belong to any single party. We will do whatever it takes to defeat the BJP."
Banerjee’s remarks refute Rahul Gandhi’s comments made a day earlier in Assam. Gandhi had said that seat negotiation was in process, and there would be a result, a conclusion of the same, and he would prefer not to comment on it. “But with Mamataji my party, and I – personally – have a good relationship. At times someone from their end, or ours, says something. These are natural things. These are not things that are going to disrupt anything,” Gandhi had said.
State Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has maintained that it would not beg for seats.
On the 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra', which is scheduled to enter West Bengal on Thursday, she claimed that the Congress did not inform her about the yatra's itinerary. "As a gesture of courtesy, did they let me know that they are coming to Bengal? I am not aware of it," she said.
Meanwhile, the BJP in Bengal was quick to mock the announcement. "Did this alliance have any ideological conviction? It was all about just opposing the Prime Minister and the BJP to protect their own political identities," BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar said.