Clash of Alliances: Congress and Trinamool Lock Horns Over West Bengal Seat Sharing

Tensions escalate within the INDIA alliance as the Congress and Trinamool Congress clash on January 4 over the crucial matter of seat sharing for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal.

State Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury firmly declared, “The grand old party won’t beg for seats from the TMC,” triggering a swift response from the Mamata Banerjee-led party. The TMC countered, stating, “Badmouthing alliance partners and seat sharing can’t go hand in hand.” Chowdhury, a vocal critic of the TMC, launched a pointed attack, accusing the ruling party in Bengal of prioritizing “serving Prime Minister Narendra Modi” over strengthening the opposition alliance.

The exchange of words took an acrimonious turn as the TMC criticized Chowdhury for making “callous remarks” and urged the Congress high command to rein in their state president. The disagreement revolves around seat allocation, with reports suggesting that the TMC is proposing only two seats—a proposition firmly rejected by the Congress Bengal unit.

In the 2019 elections, TMC secured 22 seats, Congress won two (Behrampore and Malda South), and the BJP claimed 18. The ongoing war of words escalated on January 4 after Chowdhury accused the TMC of not being serious about forging an alliance in Bengal.

“The TMC is not serious about strengthening or forging an alliance in Bengal. The TMC is busy pleasing and serving Prime Minister Narendra Modi to protect themselves from the clutches of the CBI and the ED,” expressed Chowdhury, emphasizing that the Congress would not plead for seats from the TMC.