West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday categorically said the Trinamool Congress won't be part of any alliance for the Lok Sabha election nexy year. Addressing a press conference at Nabanna, the state secretariat, Mamata said, "I will not go with anyone in 2024. The Trinamool's alliance will be with the people."
The TMC supremo made the announcement on a day the party faced defeat in the Sagardighi bypoll. Congress candidate Bayron Biswas won the Sagardighi seat, defeating the nearest rival of the TMC by 22,980 votes. The win gives Congress its first MLA in the Bengal Assembly.
In the 2021 state election, the Congress and the Left Front had failed to open their account in the West Bengal Assembly for the first time since independence.
READ | 'Muslims Can Be Cheated Once But Not Always': Congress' Dig At TMC After Winning Sagardighi Bypoll
Calling the Left-Congress alliance "immoral", Mamata alleged that the BJP, CPM and Congress were transferring votes among themselves.
"There is no need to listen to the Congress or CPM anymore. Trinamool will not join hands with those who are with BJP. They may have won an election, but they have lost morally," the Bengal CM asserted.
"The funny thing is that the Congress leader himself admitted that BJP and CPM are helping them. Thanks for telling the truth. They had to take BJP's help to defeat Mamata Banerjee," she further said.
Mamata's decision on going alone in 2024 polls comes as a setback to Opposition unity a day after Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said the primary objective of the opposition should be to put up a united fight against "divisive forces".
In his address at a DMK event to mark the 70th birthday of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, Kharge said the issue of a PM candidate of the bloc was "not the question", signalling a big shift in the stance of the party in terms of an opposition coalition.
"All like minded-opposition parties must come together in this fight against divisive forces. That is our desire. I never said who will lead, who will become the Prime Minister. We want to fight together unitedly," Kharge said during his address.