LS Polls: Double Whammy For I.N.D.I.A. As Seat-Sharing Talks Fail In Bengal, Punjab — Top Points

This comes amid a growing tussle between regional parties and the grand old party over seat sharing at the state level for the upcoming general election.

A total of 28 parties have come together to form the I.N.D.I.A. grouping to take on the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections.

Source : PTI

New Delhi: In a double blow to I.N.D.I.A. bloc, Chief Ministers of West Bengal and Punjab on Wednesday announced that there would be no alliance with the Congress for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. They said that their parties TMC and AAP will fight alone in the respective states.

This comes amid a growing tussle between regional parties and the grand old party over seat sharing at the state level for the general election. A total of 28 parties have come together to form the I.N.D.I.A. grouping to take on the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections.

According to PTI, the TMC had offered only two seats to the Congress based on its 2019 Lok Sabha polls performance, but this was not acceptable to the Congress causing strains between the two parties.

Hours after TMC supremo's announcement, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said his party will not enter into an alliance with the Congress in the state, reiterating that the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) will win all 13 seats at stake, as per the PTI report.

Here Are The Latest Updates-

• Speaking to reporters, Banerjee said, "I had given them (Congress) a proposal (on seat sharing) but they refused it at the outset. Our party has now decided to go it alone in Bengal." “Now, we have decided that there will be no relations with the Congress in Bengal," the chief minister added.
• TMC had recently skipped the recent I.N.D.I.A. bloc virtual meeting and also highlighted the necessity for the Congress to recognise its limitations in Bengal, and allow the regional party to spearhead the state's political battle.
  
  
• Congress, however, tried to underplay the rift with the TMC on the seat-sharing issue in West Bengal, asserting that no one can imagine the existence of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc without Mamata Banerjee.
  
  
• "We cannot imagine the INDIA bloc without Mamata ji. The INDIA bloc will fight the Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal and all (partners) will participate," Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh said, adding "Banerjee said that defeating BJP is the priority and prime responsibility of all of us. With this sentiment, our 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra' will enter West Bengal tomorrow."
  
  
• Meanwhile, Mann's reiteration of AAP's stance in Punjab comes at a time when the party and the Congress are in the midst of seat-sharing talks in Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Goa and Gujarat.
  
  
• Responding to a query if it was clear that the AAP will not have an electoral alliance with the Congress, Mann said, "We are not going with them (Congress)." In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Congress won eight seats, Shiromani Akali Dal(SAD) and its erstwhile ally BJP two each and the AAP one.