Congress dismisses any rift with TMC over seat sharing in West Bengal
The Hindu
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh dismisses rift with Mamata Banerjee, emphasizes focus on Lok Sabha elections and defeating BJP.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh dismissed any rift with Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over the seat sharing issue asserting talk is still going on. He also pointed out that the focus is Lok Sabha not the assembly elections.
Reacting on the remarks of Ms. Banerjee who expressed doubts on Congress party to even win 40 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, Mr. Kumar said that Congress party is going ahead by taking all political parties of Indian National Inclusive Development Alliance (INDIA) together.
“On June 23 last year, 18 political parties had gathered in Patna on the invitation of Nitish Kumar. Again INDIA block meeting took place in Bengaluru on July 17-18 in which 28 political parties were present and then on August 31 and September 3, the third meeting was held. Since day one the only motive of the Congress party was to make the INDIA block stronger. I accept that there are some minor issues with West Bengal but let me say that INDIA block has not been formed for the assembly election, it is for the Lok Sabha election,”Mr. Kumar said in Bokaro.
While accompanied by young Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar and Jharkhand Congress chief Rajesh Kumar in Bokaro, Mr. Ramesh stressed that keeping the Lok Sabha election in mind, everyone wants to defeat Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) including Ms. Banerjee.
Ms. Banerjee had earlier said that she had offered Congress party two seats but they rejected.
“Even the priority of Ms. Banerjee is to defeat BJP and this is what she is continuously saying. All the time Congress party is trying its best to strengthen the INDIA block and resolve the seat sharing which would be accepted by all political parties. TMC is the party of INDIA block and such remarks keep on coming from her side as well from our side. Our only goal is Lok Sabha, not assembly election,” Mr. Kumar said.
Slamming the Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who recently snapped ties with Mahagathbandhan. Mr. Ramesh said that despite his exit, 27 parties of INDIA block are intact. He also claimed that one day Congress will form a government in Jharkhand.
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