Bengal: In a message to India Block, Mamata Banerjee said – only Trinamool can fight BJP in Bengal

Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee on Thursday gave broad indications that Bengal will stay out of the Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) against the BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Addressing a public meeting in Deganga, North 24-Parganas, Mamata said, “Trinamool Congress larhai korbe in Bengal (Trinamool will fight in Bengal).” “Only Trinamool can teach a lesson to BJP in Bengal and show the way to the country.” Mamta did not mention the alliance. Trinamool had won 22 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Later, it won the Asansol parliamentary seat in the by-election, while another BJP MP from Barrackpore joined Trinamool. Formed in July this year with about a dozen parties from across the country, the India Bloc has yet to serve any purpose on the national platform against the BJP except protest marches. In the recent state-level elections held in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Congress contested alone and lost all three (it was the incumbent party in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan). The Samajwadi Party had openly accused the Congress of weakening the alliance as the party refused to give up some seats with India’s partner in Madhya Pradesh. In Bengal, where the Left parties, mainly the CPM and the state unit of the Congress, have been in a different political relationship during the elections, both the BJP and the Trinamool pose a similar threat. According to sources, Mamata’s statement on Thursday could be an attempt to force the Congress to compromise on the seat-sharing formula on her terms. Despite periodic joint protests in Delhi over several issues, including the recent suspension of opposition MPs from both Houses of Parliament, their ideological rival Left Front has categorically ruled out any electoral adjustment with Trinamool. “The situation in Bengal is different from the rest of the country. Here, the fight is against both the communal BJP and the corrupt Trinamool,” the CPM politburo member said. “Trinamool is not interested in fighting against BJP. They want to protect their interests.” On Wednesday, Congress MP from Maldah South Abu Hasham Khan Chowdhury had claimed that Trinamool had offered the Congress two seats, Maldah South and Berhampur (the two remaining Congress strongholds in the state). Most Congress leaders in Bengal are also against joining hands with Trinamool, although on some issues, such as the cash-for-query controversy involving former Krishnanagar MP Mahua Moitra, both the Congress and the CPM had come out in their support. Before his own party. “There is a lot of uncertainty in Bengal whether we will contest elections in alliance with Trinamool or the Left parties. We want the air to be clean. There is not much time left for us,” said a Bengal Congress leader. Since coming to power in Bengal in 2011, the Trinamool leadership actively pursued a policy of wooing elected representatives and organizational leaders from both the Left and the Congress. Congress, Left Front contested the 2021 assembly elections in alliance with the Indian Secular Front and ended with zero seats. Only one ISF candidate, Naushad Siddiqui, won from Bhangor. Byron Biswas, the Congress candidate from Sagardighi, had won the seat as a Congress-Left alliance candidate earlier this year, but later joined Trinamool. While in the neighboring state of Bihar, Congress leaders are keen to contest the elections under the India Bloc, the situation in Uttar Pradesh is difficult with both the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party playing different tunes. On Thursday, BSP MP Malook Nagar put forward a condition that if party chief Mayawati is put forward as the PM face, then BSP can join the alliance. Last week, Mamata and Delhi Chief Minister and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal had suggested Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge as the prime ministerial candidate, which was later rejected.