Congress Hopeful About INDIA-Bloc Contesting As Alliance In Bengal After Mamata’s Snub

Days after TMC chief Mamata Banerjee announced her party will contest upcoming Lok Sabha polls solo in West Bengal, Congress has expressed hope that the opposition INDIA-bloc will fight as an alliance in the state.

Congress’s assertion has come at a time when fissures have been widening among the parties in the alliance and increasing pressure on it to strengthen the opposition. 

Congress’s communications chief Jairam Ramesh has reportedly said: “in some states, the allies are in a very good fix and will announce the seats at an appropriate time.”

He also said his party is trying to be in touch with Banerjee since “she always said she wants to defeat the BJP, that’s what gives us hope that we can find a middle path… We are hopeful that INDIA bloc will fight in an alliance in Bengal.”

“Congress president has spoken with Mamata Banerjee. They are in touch with each other. Whatever the West Bengal chief minister has said so far, she has always ended by saying her priority was to defeat the BJP. She has never stopped from reiterating this determination,” Ramesh said.

Earlier, TMC Rajya Sabha floor leader Derek O’Brien blamed state Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury’s attacks on Banerjee as the key reason for his party’s decision to contest all 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state. 

Ramesh also said: “This alliance is for fighting the Lok Sabha polls. It is national level alliance. Local issues (such as Chowdhury’s remarks) will not get precedence over the national issues.”

He added: “We fight some parties in some states. Heated words are exchanged everyday in Kerala between the Left and the Congress, but we are together in the alliance.”

“In Maharashtra, we have a very good fix. We have a fairly good fix in Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand. We are getting there in Uttar Pradesh. But, we have a strong state unit in some states,” Ramesh said.