Abhishek Banerjee takes aim at Congress over seat sharing, citing disappointing Assam defeat

The ongoing seat-sharing discord within the opposition alliance 'India' for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections has intensified, with Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Abhishek Banerjee criticizing the Congress party. Banerjee's comments come in the wake of Congress's defeat in the North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council (NCHAC) elections in Assam's Dima Hasao district.

The TMC leader remarked that while Congress struggles to regain ground in Assam, it aspires to demand more seats in Bengal, characterizing such aspirations as reaching for the stars. In the NCHAC elections, the ruling BJP retained power, securing 25 out of 30 seats with a vote share of 55.52 percent. Congress, in contrast, managed only an 8.87 percent vote share, while TMC, contesting for the first time, secured 7.63 percent.

Abhishek Banerjee highlighted TMC's comparatively better performance in the NCHAC elections compared to Assam's opposition Congress, emphasizing the disparity between Congress's electoral standing and its seat-sharing demands in Bengal. The discord intensified after TMC, the primary party in the Indian alliance, offered only two seats to Congress out of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal. Congress, discontented with the allocation, has demanded more seats. In the previous Lok Sabha elections, TMC secured 22 seats, BJP surprised with 18 seats, and Congress won the remaining two seats, setting the stage for heightened tensions within the opposition coalition.