Lok Sabha Elections 2024: TMC is and will remain a part of I.N.D.I.A. bloc, says Mamata in subtle change of stand

Banerjee alleged that the West Bengal units of both CPI(M) and Congress, who are part of the I.N.D.I.A. alliance, have joined hands and helped the BJP in the state.

Kolkata: The Trinamool Congress is a part of I.N.D.I.A. bloc and will remain so, West Bengal chief minister and the party’s supremo, Mamata Banerjee, said on Thursday, a day after she said that the bloc would come to power after the parliamentary elections and her party would provide external support to it.

Banerjee made a subtle change in her stand even as West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury called her an ‘opportunist politician’ and accused her of changing her position after realizing that the political landscape was changing and I.N.D.I.A. would form the next government at the Centre.

“At the all-India level, some people have misunderstood my statement yesterday. I am very much part of the I.N.D.I.A. The I.N.D.I.A. was my brainchild. We are together at the national level and will continue to be together,” she said, addressing an election rally in the state’s Tamluk Lok Sabha constituency.

She, however, did not specifically state if the TMC would join the government or provide external support to the coalition government in case the I.N.D.I.A, could wrest power from the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies.

She had said on Wednesday that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance would not be able to win enough Lok Sabha seats to form the next government at the Centre and I.N.D.I.A. would come to power. “We would give leadership to the I.N.D.I.A and would extend all sorts of support to it from outside so that it could form the next government at the Centre,” she had said, addressing an election rally at Chuchura in Hooghly Lok Sabha constituency.

“Do not count on the CPI(M) and the Congress in West Bengal. They are not with us. They are with the BJP here. I am talking about that (I.N.D.I.A. bloc) in Delhi,” Banerjee said on Thursday. She had also made the same allegation against the state units of the Congress and the CPI (M) on earlier occasions, including at the rally in Hooghly on Wednesday.  

The TMC stated that the latest statement by the party’s supremo had left no room for confusion. “Mamata Banerjee clarifies her position, that she founded the I.N.D.I.A. alliance and she will be always part of it. No confusion at all !!” Jawhar Sircar, the party’s MP in the Rajya Sabha, posted on X, along with the video of the speech she delivered on Thursday.  

The TMC supremo has been predicting over the past few days that while the BJP would get only around 190-195 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha, the I.N.D.I.A. bloc would win at least 315 seats – way above the majority mark in the House.

Meanwhile, Banerjee’s comments on Wednesday and Thursday triggered sharp reactions from her staunch critic Chowdhury, the leader of the Congress in the outgoing Lok Sabha.

“This clearly indicates that the I.N.D.I.A. is striding ahead and on the verge of forming the government and that is why as an astute and opportunist leader, Mamata Banerjee has decided to extend her support well in advance,” said Chowdhury.

“She (Banerjee) has lost her credibility. She has understood the crude reality that voters are gearing towards the INDIA bloc. She has realised that she has been isolated in national politics. This is a ploy to stay alive in national politics,” said the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee chief.

Banerjee had played a key role in bringing several opposition parties together during the run-up to the parliamentary polls, attended its meetings, and even named the bloc I.N.D.I.A. But she refused to spare more than two of the 42 Lok Sabha seats for the Congress in West Bengal. The TMC decided to go solo in all the parliamentary constituencies in the state when its offer was rejected by the Congress.

The CPI (M), however, entered into an electoral understanding with the Congress in West Bengal, despite fighting against each other in Kerala.

Mamata over the past few weeks often accused the leaders of the Congress and the CPI(M) in West Bengal of being in collusion with the BJP to beat the TMC in the state.

Chowdhury and the CPI (M)’s state secretary Mohammad Salim, on the other hand, have been accusing the TMC supremo of stalling the I.N.D.I.A. in West Bengal at the behest of the BJP to save her nephew and her party’s general secretary, Abhishek Banerjee, from the probes by the central agencies in corruption cases.