Trinamool to leave only 2 seats to Congress for Lok Sabha 2024?
The buzz is that the Trinamool Congress is likely to leave two seats to the Congress for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections if they come to a seat-sharing arrangement.
However, sources say that two is the maximum that the Mamata Banerjee-led ruling party in Bengal is willing to leave to the grand old party, including Darjeeling.
The basis for this, according to Trinamool sources, is that it being the dominant party in the last assembly as well as the general election, should be given the right to how the seats are to be shared.
That the INDIA alliance partners have failed to come to any agreement among themselves despite the elections just about three months away is creating issues elsewhere too.
Just yesterday, Janata Dal (United) unilaterally announced its candidate for the Arunachal Pradesh (West) parliamentary seat, blaming its action on the Congress doing the same thing for the Arunachal Pradesh (East) constituency around a month ago.
In Bengal, the Congress is reportedly also considering an arrangement with the CPI(M), like last time. If that happens, it will get to contest many more seats.
But CPI(M) is also part of the INDIA alliance. Hence, if the Congress-CPI(M) coalition happens, it would mean two INDIA partners fighting against another, and that too in the same state.
Mamata Banerjee in her political career has always been against the CPI(M), and it was her leading from the front that led Trinamool to end the 34-year-rule of the Left Front in 2011.
She and her party have also, time and again, accused the Congress and the CPI(M) of being the B-teams of the BJP, since by contesting against her party, they help create dents in the anti-BJP vote bank, helping it win.
What the ultimate arrangement will be among the INDIA coalition partners in Bengal remains to be seen but the sooner they come to an agreement the more time they will get to prepare their campaign strategies against the BJP juggernaut.
