I.N.D.I.A bloc on Friday scheduled a meeting for tomorrow (Saturday) at 4:30 PM, Nitish Kumar may be appointed as the coordinator in this online meeting, according to an input by ABP reporter Jainendra.
The Trinamool Congress, which has offered the Congress two Lok Sabha seats for an alliance in West Bengal, has refused further negotiations with the latter's national alliance committee, but has left the door open for talks between the two parties' top leaders, according to people familiar with the situation told Hindustan Times.
The Congress already holds both of the seats offered by the TMC, making it difficult for the party to accept the deal, according to a member of the Congress' alliance panel. The TMC has also requested a seat in Meghalaya, claiming that it received 13.8% of the vote in the previous assembly elections, slightly more than the Congress, according to the report.
The national alliance committee, led by Congress veteran Mukul Wasnik, has already met with the Janata Dal (United), Rashtriya Janata Dal, Aam Aadmi Party, Shiv Sena (Uddhav), Nationalist Congress Party, and Samajwadi Party to discuss seats.
"The TMC's offer for two seats, based on data and ground reality in Bengal, was communicated to the Congress three weeks ago. As a result, any further meeting with a committee will be futile at this point," said a senior TMC lawmaker involved in the party's strategy, as reported by Hindustan Times.
On the sidelines of the I.N.D.I.A bloc meeting in New Delhi on December 19, Banerjee discussed seat sharing with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi. Banerjee offered the two seats held by the Congress in Bengal at the time—Maldah Dakshin and Baharampur.
Two Congress leaders said the TMC's offer in Bengal is difficult to accept because the party won those two seats while competing against both the TMC and the BJP.