Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien said there has been "no change" in the party’s stand of contesting all 42 Lok Sabha seats in Bengal, a few in Assam and one seat in Meghalaya."A few weeks ago… West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee stated that TMC is fighting all the 42 seats in Bengal. We are also in the fray in a few seats in Assam and the Tura Lok Sabha seat in Meghalaya. There is no change in this position," the TMC leader said as quoted by news agency PTI.
The Congress and the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC, part of the INDIA bloc, are rumoured to have revived their seat-sharing talks to challenge the BJP-led NDA jointly in the Lok Sabha elections, which is due for April–May.
On Friday, Congress announced that seat-sharing negotiations were going on with all of its INDIA partners, including the National Conference in Jammu and Kashmir and the TMC in West Bengal, following the finalisation of seat-sharing agreements with the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh for the Lok Sabha polls.
The discord between TMC and Congress began after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee recently challenged the Grand Old Party to take on the BJP in the Hindi heartland states while doubting their ability to secure "even 40 seats" in the upcoming Lok Sabha election. Mamata's remark comes after Rahul Gandhi expressed optimism about resolving the seat-sharing deadlock in the state.
Despite Congress's attempts to reconcile with the TMC a deadlock over seat-sharing, Banerjee persisted in refusing to give seats to the Grand Old Party. The TMC supremo dared Congress to fight against the BJP and overthrow it in states like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh.
"If you have the courage, defeat the BJP in UP, Banaras, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh. Where were you (Congress) when Manipur was burning? We had sent a team," she said as quoted by PTI.
