Congress leader Pramod Tiwari has rubbished reports suggesting TMC's decision to avoid participation in the seat-sharing meetings with the Congress's national alliance for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in 2024.
"All these reports are wrong. I have been attending every meeting. As far as seats are concerned, there has been no such message from them (TMC) so far. In fact, they have been asking to finalise the seat-sharing as soon as possible," said Pramod Tiwari to PTI when asked about reports of TMC hinting at its disinterest in meeting the Congress panel that has been engaging in talks with I.N.D.I.A. alliance members to discuss seat-sharing for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) party has reportedly made up its mind to avoid participating in any of the seat-sharing meetings conducted by Congress. Based on the information received by PTI from the TMC sources, it was also revealed by the news agency that the Bengal-based party has already expressed its stance on the matter to the Congress, triggering a potential rift between the alliance in the future.
The TMC sources further revealed to PTI that the Congress party had been reaching out to them to hold a meeting, only to get rejected every time by the TMC.
The Congress' alliance committee has been discussing seat-sharing with the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (I.N.D.I.A.) from various states, and TMC has clearly declined to send its representatives for talks on the same, added PTI.
According to PTI's inside sources, TMC has proposed its plan to allocate two seats to the Congress party, the ones it secured in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Since West Bengal has 42 parliamentary constituencies, it holds a significant position in the ongoing negotiations between the two parties.
The Congress is, however, unhappy with the proposal, deeming it too challenging and low to accept, and has expressed its dissatisfaction, as per PTI.