‘Can’t imagine INDIA bloc without Mamata’, says a shocked Cong, repeats it’s only hiccups

As West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee declared Wednesday that her party would contest the coming Lok Sabha polls alone in the state, a stunned Congress said it cannot imagine the INDIA bloc without her and hoped that a solution would be found and that the alliance parties would fight in the state as a coalition. The Congress also hung on to Mamata’s remarks that she was determined to fight the BJP.

The Congress always knew that seat-sharing in Bengal was going to be a challenge given its state unit’s aversion to it, as well as Left parties’ reluctance regarding a three-way seat-sharing pact.

However, what the Congress did not expect was Mamata saying that the issue of national alliance can be decided after the elections, and that the Congress should fight in 300 seats and let the regional parties, which she said were together, contest the rest. If the Congress was not agreeable, Mamata added, the regional parties could go ahead and contest on own.

VIDEO | “Congress President (Mallikarjun) Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, and Rahul Gandhi respect Mamata Banerjee a lot. So, I believe that sometimes speed breakers come in a long journey, but we will find a way through discussion. Mamata Banerjee’s priority is to defeat the BJP, and with… pic.twitter.com/zBf3JJWI9w

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) <a href=«https://twitter.com/PTI_News/status/1750078801495621903?ref_src=» https: class="" rel=«nofollow, noopener» target="_blank">January 24, 2024

Mamata’s claim that the Congress did not even get in touch with her or invite her for Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra leg in Bengal, which begins Thursday, also came as a surprise to the party.

Officially, the Congress sought to play down the TMC chief’s