Trinamool rejects attempts at a Congress partnership and plans to run for every Lok Sabha seat in Bengal

Derek O’Brien, the leader of the Trinamool Congress, reaffirmed his party’s position on Friday that it would stand alone in the forthcoming West Bengal Lok Sabha elections. According to the TMC chief, the party’s stance on running for all 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal, a couple in Assam, and one in Meghalaya has not changed. The statement was made in the midst of rumors that the Congress party has reopened negotiations for an alliance in the state with the TMC, headed by Mamata Banerjee.

“West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said a few weeks ago that the TMC is vying for all 42 seats in Bengal. We are also contesting many seats in Assam and the Meghalayan Tura Lok Sabha seat. This is still the same position, according to Derek O’Brien.

The TMC had earlier on Friday stated that it would run alone in the April–May local elections, but the Congress later indicated that the seat-sharing negotiations between the party and TMC were back on track.

The Samajwadi Party and the Congress have just formalized their partnership in Uttar Pradesh. The Samajwadi Party will run for 63 seats and the Congress for 17 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh.

The Congress party is going to fight in Raebareli, Amethi, Fatehpur Sikri, Saharanpur, Prayagraj, Maharajganj, Varanasi, Amroha, Jhansi, Bulandshahr, Ghaziabad, Mathura, Sitapur, Barabanki, Kanpur, Bansgaon, and Deoria. The remainder are in SP’s care.

The party is allied with Sharad Pawar’s NCP and Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray’s Sena in Maharashtra. Congress and its INDIA bloc partners in the state are engaged in negotiations to finalize LS seats.

AAP is expected to compete four of Delhi’s seven Lok Sabha seats, while the Congress is expected to contest three.

Last month, Mamata Banerjee said that the Congress had rejected her offer, which was the reason why the negotiations had broken down. She also mentioned the wait times for completing a seat-sharing arrangement. She also promised that she would not form an alliance with the Congress until it did so with her fierce adversary, the CPI (M).

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the leader of the Congress, had said that the TMC had only given his party two seats. Subsequently, Derek O’Brien said that the politician was a primary factor in the party’s choice to run for the Lok Sabha seat on its own.