Cong, TMC spar over seat-sharing in Bengal

Sending out tell-tale hints of a further deepening of cracks in the Opposition bloc - I.N.D.I.A. -- as the Lok Sabha elections near, the West Bengal unit of the Congress on Thursday took a swipe at the Trinamool Congress, blaming the ruling party in the state for the lack of progress in seat-sharing talks.

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Further opening up fissures in the Opposition bloc at a time when divergent voices over seat-sharing have come to the fore, Congress MP and the party's West Bengal chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Thursday hit out at TMC Supremo and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, voice doubts over her intent to go into a seat allotment with the grand old party in the state. Addressing a press conference in the Murshidabad district of West Bengal on Thursday, Adhir also scoffed at Mamata's rumoured offer of 2 of the state's 42 Lok Sabha seats to the Congress, saying those constituencies are already with the Congress and his party was quite capable of retaining them in the polls that are likely to be scheduled in the summer.

"The true face of Mamata Banerjee is out. They (TMC) are saying that they are ready to give us two seats in West Bengal. The seats in question are already with us. Both these constituencies elected Congress MPs. So, what new are they giving us? We won these seats defeating Mamata Banerjee's TMC and the BJP. Are they doing us a favour? Who will trust her (Mamata) with seat allotment?" Adhir said.