Setback for INDIA seat-sharing hopes in Bengal, Trinamool won’t meet Congress panel for talks

The possibility of a seat-sharing pact between the Congress and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal receded further on Thursday with the TMC signalling it would not meet the five-member national alliance committee of the Congress that has been holding talks with parties of the INDIA alliance to work out seat adjustments in states. Sources in the TMC said the party had already conveyed its offer to the Congress.

The Congress panel — comprising Ashok Gehlot, Bhupesh Baghel, Mukul Wasnik, Salman Khurshid, and Mohan Prakash — has held one round of discussions with parties such as the Samajwadi Party (SP), Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP, AAP, and RJD. The TMC, sources said, had offered Malda Dakshin and Baharampur to the Congress. The Congress holds both seats at the moment.

West Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has already rejected the offer saying the party had won those seats on its own in 2019 fighting against the TMC and the BJP, and that the Congress does not need any “grace or generosity” from Mamata to win those two seats.

“I can fight it alone against Banerjee and the BJP because I have proved it. My colleague and I can fight in both the seats on our own. We don’t require any grace from Banerjee to retain the two seats,” Chowdhury told The Indian Express earlier this week. That the TMC is not willing to meet the Congress panel to discuss its offer signals that the party is in no mood to concede more seats to the grand old party.

“We have offered them two seats. The Congress got over 30% votes in only two of the 42 seats in Bengal. How can they claim more seats? If the top Congress leadership speaks to Mamata Banerjee directly, maybe she will concede one more seat. So there is no point in meeting the