Mamata Banerjee's 'ekla cholo re' in Bengal, AAP's 'sadda Punjab' make it a grINDIing Bloc

KOLKATA/NEW DELHI: The existence of INDIA bloc came into question on Wednesday as Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee and AAP's Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann said that their parties would have no alliance in West Bengal and Punjab, respectively, for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

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Banerjee said she would take a decision on her party's position at the national level after the Lok Sabha elections. Banerjee's comments came a day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi claimed he was "very close" to Banerjee and that seat-sharing negotiations were on track.


Hours after Banerjee's announcement, Mann said AAP would contest all 13 seats in Punjab. "The Aam Aadmi Party has shortlisted 30 candidates for 13 Lok Sabha seats. We are getting a survey done before finalising candidates," he said.

Banerjee and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal had suggested Kharge as INDIA bloc PM candidate earlier in what was seen as a move to scuttle Gandhi's candidature. Mann's timing, after Banerjee's announcement, therefore, is not seen as coincidence by political observers.

Lashing out at Congress, Banerjee said she had proposed a seat-sharing arrangement, but Congress refused to accept it. "I am an INDIA bloc partner. As a matter of courtesy, I was not even informed that the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra is entering our state," she said in Kolkata, before going to Burdwan to attend an administrative meeting. "There is no discussion at all. It is absolutely wrong," she said when asked about Gandhi's comment on the seat-sharing discussion on Tuesday. "We are a secular party and in Bengal, we alone will defeat the BJP," she said.

Banerjee urged regional parties to come together and fight and added that Congress can fight in 300 seats alone. "Let them fight in 300 seats. We, the regional parties, will fight in the rest of the seats and they (Congress) should not interfere."

"The negotiation's results will come out soon, I will not comment on it. But Mamata Banerjee is very close to me and our party," Gandhi had said on Tuesday during his yatra, which is currently passing through Assam, and will enter West Bengal's Coochbehar on Thursday. "Sometimes, Congress and Trinamool Congress leaders criticise each other's party. But these are natural things. It is not going to disrupt the relations between Congress and Trinamool," Gandhi had said.

Sources told ET that Congress has sought seats in Murshidabad and Malda, but Trinamool did not agree to it. Congress' Adhir Chowdhury had won Berhampur in 2019. He had said that Congress was ready to fight on its own strength.

AAP and Congress are in talks for sharing seats in Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Goa and Gujarat. The parties have struck an alliance for the Chandigarh mayoral poll. "Punjab will become a hero in the country and AAP will win 13-0 in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls," Mann told reporters in answer to a question.