'Mamata Banerjee afraid of upsetting PM Modi': Congress reacts after TMC's snub on seat-sharing deal

Launching a scathing attack on Banerjee, Congress’s leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said she should not be trusted by any political party in India.

With her move, Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress disregarded Congress, which had recently said it was open to seat-sharing discussions for the upcoming elections.

Both parties are part of the INDIA bloc, an opposition alliance aimed at challenging the BJP.

Mamata Banerjee's stance is in line with her claim that only her party can counter the BJP in Bengal, and the failure of negotiations with Congress over seat allocations further underscores this point.

"The Indian National Congress has repeatedly declared its desire to have a respectable seat-sharing agreement with the TMC in West Bengal. The Indian National Congress has always maintained that such an agreement has to be finalised through negotiations and not by unilateral announcements," Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said on X (formerly Twitter).

"The Indian National Congress has always wanted the INDIA group to fight the BJP together," he added.

Chowdhury said Mamata is worried that PM Modi would be unhappy if she made seat-sharing agreement with the Congress.

"Mamata Banerjee has proven today that none of the political parties of India should trust a leader like her... Mamata Banerjee is in fear that if she continues to be in the INDIA alliance, PM Modi will be unhappy. By separating herself from the INDIA alliance, she has sent a message to the PMO, don't be unhappy with me, I am not standing to fight against the BJP," Chowdhury was quoted as saying by NDTV.

For months, Congress and Trinamool had been engaged in negotiations to reach a seat-sharing agreement in Bengal.

However, each time the Congress requested more than three seats in the state, the TMC backed off from the discussions.

As a result of this ongoing struggle, Mamata Banerjee chose not to participate in the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi, which passed through Bengal.

TMC’s snub deprived the INDIA bloc of an opportunity to put forth a united front and counter the BJP's political attacks, which often target the internal conflicts within the Opposition alliance.