In a major jolt to the INDIA bloc, the seat-sharing talks between the Congress and the Trinamool Congress, which showed signs of revival yesterday, seem to have been derailed again.
Late on Friday, TMC leader Derek O'Brien said there has been "no change" in the party's stand of contesting all 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal, thus ending earlier speculations that the parties have arrived at an understanding regarding the seat sharing.
He added that the TMC will also contest “a few seats in Assam and Tura Lok Sabha seat in Meghalaya”.
"A few weeks ago...West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee stated that TMC is fighting all the 42 seats in Bengal. We are also in the fray in a few seats in Assam and the Tura Lok Sabha seat in Meghalaya. There is no change in this position."
There were reports earlier that the Congress and the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC, which are part of the INDIA bloc, have revived their talks to unitedly take on the BJP-led NDA in the Lok Sabha polls, due in April-May.
The TMC has, publicly and internally, insisted that the Congress merits only two seats in West Bengal, while the Congress has been demanding around 10 seats, including Darjeeling, Purulia and Raiganj.
Congress had won two seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections – Berhampore and Maldaha Dakshin.
