West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said today that for any potential alliance with the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, the Congress must sever ties with the Communist Party of India (Marxist). This statement comes at a time when Congress is making strong efforts to appease the Trinamool Congress leadership for a potential alliance in West Bengal.
Both the TMC and CPI(M) are part of the Opposition INDIA bloc.
The Bengal Chief Minister said that the Congress had rejected the Trinamool's offer for two seats during seat-sharing negotiations, and now she "won't give a single seat".
"The CPI(M) has physically attacked me on several occasions in the past. I was mercilessly beaten up. I am alive only because of the blessings of my well-wishers. I can never forgive the Left, I can never forgive the CPI(M). So those who are with CPI(M) today, they can also be with the BJP. I won't forgive them," she told a gathering in Malda.
"I told Congress, you don't have a single MLA in the assembly. We will give you two parliamentary seats and we will make sure your candidate wins. But they want more seats, so I told them I won't give you a single seat until you leave the company of the Left," she added.
Seat-sharing discussions between the Trinamool and Congress hit a roadblock a week ago when Banerjee announced that her party would contest the Lok Sabha polls independently and that any decision on an alliance would be taken after the election.
After Banerjee spoke out, Congress leaders quickly tried to control the situation, saying they can't imagine an INDIA bloc without Mamata Banerjee. But, today, the remarks made by the Trinamool chief imply that the issue is far from being resolved.
