SETBACK TO I.N.D.I.A AS MAMATA GOES SOLO IN ALL 42 SEATS IN BENGAL

Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee today finally ended the suspense over sharing seats with its I.N.D.I.A. partner, the Congress, by announcing party candidates in all 42 seats in West Bengal.

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Announcing the names at a massive Jonogorjon (People's Roar) Sabha, Mamata Banerjee slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party for its step-motherly attitude towards Bengal and ended all speculation of a possible tie-up with I.N.D.I.A. bloc in Bengal. Mamata said the Trinamool Congress would contest elections alone in the State, and "will also fight in Assam and Meghalaya". "It will be Trinamool versus BJP in Bengal. Trinamool will fight alone," Mamata said, adding that her opposition to the Congress and the CPM would continue.

She further said her party was in talks with Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party for contesting in "one Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh".

In the 42 seats, the Trinamool Congress fielded 26 new candidates, while 12 in the list are members of the Bengal legislative assembly, including State Ministers.

Among the sitting MPs, Aparupa Poddar, alias Afreen Ali of Arambagh, Mathurapur's Choudhury Mohan Jatua have also been dropped. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Trinamool Congress had barely managed to retain the Arambagh seat with little over 1,000-votes.

"We had to drop some of the people. During the next Assembly polls or in any organizational role we will try to accommodate them," Mamata said.