'Acknowledge ground reality, accept you are weak in West Bengal,' Trinamool's message to Congress on seat-sharing talks

‘Acknowledge ground reality, accept you are weak in West Bengal,’ Trinamool’s message to Congress on seat-sharing talks

NEW DELHI: The Trinamool Congress wants the Congress leadership to acknowledge that the grand old party is weak in West Bengal and let Mamata Banerjee lead the fight against the BJP in the state. The Trinamool is not keen to hold any talks with the Congress on seat sharing for Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal, according to party sources.

“The Congress leadership should acknowledge the ground reality in Bengal. They are weak. We are ready to lead the fight in West Bengal, we are committed to the INDIA bloc and to defeating the BJP. Our position is clearly spelt out with data, so there is no need for one to go to Delhi and have another discussion,” a TMC leader told news agency PTI on condition of anonymity.

The Congress panel for seat-sharing talks, which includes Mukul Wasnik, Ashok Gehlot and Bhupesh Baghel among others, has already met several INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) partners from different states. TMC sources said the Congress contacted party leaders for such a meeting and has been conveyed that they are not keen on sending any representative for talks.

According to reports, the Trinamool Congress has offered two seats to the Congress out of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state. These are the seats which the grand old party won in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The Congress has said the offer is too low and difficult to accept. In fact, West Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury had reacted strongly to the reports and had said “the Congress does not need Mamata’s mercy.” Adhir says the Congress had won the two seats on its own and is capable of fighting and winning more seats in the state.

Notwithstanding his claims, data shows that the Congress has struggled in the state of West Bengal. In the last nine Lok Sabha elections, the grand old party has managed a maximum of nine seats and that too in the year….

The Trinamool Congress says its offer of two seats to the Congress is based on the grand old party’s voteshare in previous assembly and Lok Sabha polls. In at least 39 out of 42 seats in West Bengal, the Congress had less than five per cent vote share in the past.

In West Bengal, the Congress got a vote share of 2.93 per cent in the 2021 assembly polls, 12.25 per cent in the 2016 assembly polls, and 5.67 per cent in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

The TMC is also looking at fighting from one seat in Meghalaya and at least two in Assam, party sources said.

They added that while the local unit of TMC had an aspiration to fight from one seat in Goa, where it got around five per cent vote share in the 2021 assembly polls, it will not press for it and support the Congress in the coastal state.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the TMC won 22 seats in West Bengal, the Congress won two, and the BJP made an impressive performance by bagging 18 seats. The BJP’s score was 16 more than what it had won in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, while the Trinamool’s was 12 down from 34 five years back. The CPM which won 4 seats in 2014 could not open its account in 2019. The Congress tally came down to 2 in 2014 with a vote share of 5.61%.

What would worry the Trinamool is that the BJP’s vote percentage in 2019 Lok Sabha polls was 40.25% just 3% less than the Trinamool’s 43.28%. With such a small gap in vote share, the Trinamool would be wary of any anti-BJP vote division in the state.

(With inputs from PTI)

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