New Delhi: The Trinamool Congress is likely to skip a proposed meeting of the Opposition’s INDIA bloc on 1 June citing the need for its leaders to be stationed in Kolkata and adjoining seats that go to polls in the last phase of the Lok Sabha election on that day, ThePrint has learnt.
Polling will be held in nine constituencies in and around Kolkata on 1 June, including Diamond Harbour from where TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee is contesting. All these seats are currently held by the TMC, which is locked in a close fight with the BJP that had bagged 18 of 42 seats in the 2019 general elections in West Bengal.
“1 June is very important for us (TMC), more than any other phase, as all the seats in Kolkata and greater Kolkata will vote. These seats are currently with the TMC. It makes no sense for the TMC to remain busy with a meeting in Delhi on that day,” a senior TMC leader told ThePrint.
Congress sources told reporters Sunday that the party is likely to host a meeting of top leaders of the INDIA bloc on 1 June to discuss the performance of the constituents of the alliance in their respective strongholds and draw up strategies ahead of the counting day on 4 June.
The TMC leader quoted above also said that apart from nine seats in West Bengal, some constituencies in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Punjab will also vote on 1 June. “It is not just the TMC. It may be difficult for leaders of other Opposition parties to attend the meeting too,” the TMC functionary said.
Despite no seat-sharing arrangement with the Congress and Left parties, which are jointly contesting the polls in West Bengal, the TMC maintains that it remains an integral part of the INDIA bloc. West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee has repeatedly said that it was she who came up with the name INDIA for the Opposition alliance.
But some of her remarks also gave anxious moments to the alliance. One such statement, made earlier this month, that the TMC will lend outside support to the alliance in the event of it coming to power created a flutter. However, she clarified a day later that some people “misunderstood” her remarks and that her party remains a part of the INDIA bloc.
The TMC’s decision to stay away from the proposed meeting on 1 June is also significant in light of West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Chowdhury’s persistent criticism of Banerjee and her government, despite raps from the party’s high command.
The matter had sharply escalated when Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge’s posters were defaced outside the Congress office in Kolkata after he snubbed Chowdhury over his remarks that Banerjee cannot be trusted.
Kharge had then said that Chowdhury “was nobody to make decisions on the alliance”, which will be guided by the Congress high command.
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