Kolkata/ Chandigarh: Mamata Banerjee and Bhagwant Mann have announced that there is no alliance with the Congress party in the states of West Bengal and Punjab. Their announcement that they will contest the Lok Sabha elections alone has created a stir in the India alliance.
Lok Sabha elections are going to be held soon. In this, the BJP is trying to come to power for the 3rd time in a row. The opposition parties came together to form the ‘All India’ alliance to defeat the BJP. The coalition consisted of 28 parties including DMK, United Janata Dal, Trinamool Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Aam Aadmi Party, Nationalist Congress Party and Shiv Sena (Uddhav). The main leaders of the alliance parties met in Patna, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi. Recently a meeting was also held through video. However, there was no consensus among the alliance parties on the seat sharing talks.
In this case, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee announced yesterday that there is no alliance with the Congress. He said in this regard:
In the last 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Congress won 4 constituencies in West Bengal. In 2019 elections, it won only 2 constituencies. So, I offered to give 2 seats to Congress. But it is unreasonable for the Congress to ask for 10 to 12 seats. It would be correct to give up certain areas to the state parties.
Let the Congress freely contest in 300 constituencies across the country. I will help with that. Trinamool will not contest there. At the same time, the Congress party is adamant that they should do what they want.
We want to defeat BJP. We will do anything to defeat BJP. We have the power to do so. But when it comes to constituency allocation, some people don’t want to listen to us. If you don’t want to fight against BJP, at least don’t give them much chance of victory.
The Trinamool Congress will contest alone in all the 42 constituencies in West Bengal. After the election results, we will consider the India alliance at the national level.
Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi is coming to my state for a walk on the 25th (today). I am part of the India alliance and they did not inform me about this even out of respect.
As far as West Bengal is concerned, the Congress and Trinamool have no relation. India Alliance will be in India. But Trinamool Congress will fight against BJP in West Bengal. Only we can teach BJP a lesson. Mamata said this.
Following this, the Aam Aadmi Party, which was part of the India Alliance, also announced that there was no alliance with the Congress.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said yesterday: Aam Aadmi Party will not form any alliance with Congress Party in Punjab. Aam Aadmi Party will win all 13 Lok Sabha constituencies in Punjab and emerge as the hero of the country. The list of 40 candidates of Aam Aadmi Party is ready. From that we will select 13 people who have a high chance of winning and put them in the election. This is what he said.
Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi commented on Mamata’s criticism and said, “Mamata Banerjee is close to me and our Congress party. Sometimes it is natural for both parties to criticize each other. “His criticism will not affect the Congress-Trinamool relationship,” he said.
Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, who has participated in the Bharat Unity Yatra with Rahul in Assam, says, “Rahul Gandhi has made it clear that Mamata Banerjee and the Trinamool Congress Party are the strongest pillars of the India alliance. The Congress party cannot even imagine an India alliance without Mamata. India’s alliance parties should fight together in Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal,” he said.
The major parties, Trinamool Congress and Aam Aadmi Party, have successively declared no alliance with the Congress, creating a ruckus in the All India alliance.