“Waited For Months To Seal Seat Sharing But Congress…”: Abhishek Banerjee

Senior Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Abhishek Banerjee on Monday attributed the differences in opposition bloc INDIA in West Bengal to the Congress party’s failure to finalise seat-sharing arrangements.

Banerjee highlighted that despite repeated reminders over the last seven months, the Congress remained inactive in sealing the seat-sharing agreement.

The TMC national general secretary slammed West Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury for playing into the hands of the saffron camp and repeatedly attacking the TMC government in West Bengal, despite being an ally at the national level.

“According to alliance norms, the first thing you do is seal the seat-sharing. We had waited for seven months since July last year to seal the seat-sharing issue. But the Congress was sitting idle and nothing moved forward,” he told reporters here.

TMC chief Mamata Banerjee had last week announced that the party would go alone in the Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal.

“We held multiple discussions with senior Congress leadership. During the last meeting in Delhi, Mamata Banerjee had clarified that seat-sharing talks should be finalised by December 31. However, they did not do so and refrained from participating in any conversation,” he said.

The TMC leader said the seat-sharing issue was also raised at meetings in Patna, Bengaluru, and even in the last meeting.

The Diamond Harbour MP, who is also the nephew of Mamata Banerjee, slammed Mr Chowdhury for “demanding President’s Rule in the state,” echoing the demands of the BJP.

“By demanding President’s Rule, whose interest is the state Congress president trying to serve – the TMC, the Congress or the BJP? There is a limit to our patience,” he said.

The TMC leader, however, iterated that the “party continues to be a part of the opposition bloc INDIA at the national level.” Hitting out at the Congress for accusing Mamata Banerjee as the “Trojan horse of the saffron camp”, Mr Banerjee wondered, “when the state Congress is speaking in the language of the BJP, then who the Trojan horse of the saffron camp is?” How many times has Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury condemned the financial deprivation of Bengal by the BJP? There is a limit to our patience. The woman who is fighting against BJP is being challenged by state Congress leadership,” he said.