In what could be indications of the widening rift among the INDIA bloc members ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is unlikely to attend the next meeting of the group scheduled in Delhi on Wednesday.
Citing prior engagements in North Bengal, the Trinamool Congress chief said she was not aware of the meeting.
"I will be visiting North Bengal from December 6 to December 11. I was not aware of the meeting date on December 6. Had I known about the meeting date beforehand, then I could have rescheduled my visit," Banerjee told reporters in Kolkata.
It’s not clear whether any other leader from the Trinamool Congress will attend the meeting. An NDTV report, quoting certain sources, claimed that the party, too, may skip the meeting.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge called the meeting at his residence to formulate a strategy for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The meeting comes in the wake of the assembly elections in which the grand old party was handed big defeats in three Hindi heartland states—Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh—by the BJP.
The only solace for the Congress was Telangana where the party wrested power from the BRS to form its first government in the state.
Banerjee’s decision to skip the INDIA meeting has set the tongues wagging in political circles as the chief minister, accompanied by her nephew and TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, has consistently attended previous meetings of the opposition alliance.
Notably, earlier in the day, the TMC supremo alleged that the Congress’s decision to fight the assembly polls on its own had led to a division of votes.
"Congress has won Telangana. They would have won Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. Some votes were cut by INDIA parties. This is the truth. We had said suggested a seat-sharing arrangement. They lost because of division of votes," she said.
Banerjee further claimed that if there is proper consensus on seat sharing ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the saffron party will not be able to retain power at the Centre.
"A strategy has to be finalised. I think BJP won't come to power if seats sharing is finalised," she said in the assembly.
Meanwhile, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan attributed the Congress’s poll debacle to the party’s “self-centered attitude of neglecting the alliance partners”.
"Election result was against the expectations, especially in three states people expected BJP to face backlash. Congress took a stand against uniting with other parties in these three states. They expected a big win by standing independently. That's how they managed things,” the CPI(M) leader said.
He further pointed out that Congress decided to keep CPI(M) and other parties out in Rajasthan where it could have joined hands to give a strong competition to the BJP.
