Alliance can happen anytime before withdrawal of nominations:Cong on TMC announcing candidates' list
New Delhi, Mar 10: Soon after the TMC declared candidates from all Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal, the Congress on Sunday said its doors are open for an alliance till the withdrawal of nominations and maintained that any agreement has to be finalised through negotiations and not by unilateral announcements.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at a public rally in Kolkata announced the names of 42 candidates for the Lok Saba election in the state.
"Our doors are always open and an alliance can happen anytime before withdrawal," Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said over the development.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh also said that the Indian National Congress has repeatedly declared its desire to have a respectable seat-sharing agreement with the TMC in West Bengal.
"The Indian National Congress has always maintained that such an agreement has to be finalised through negotiations and not by unilateral announcements," he said in a post on X.
"The Indian National Congress has always wanted the INDIA group to fight the BJP together," he also said.
Congress and TMC leaders have been engaged in a war of words in the recent past over seat-sharing in West Bengal, with the Mamata Banerjee-led party asserting that it cannot offer more than two seats to the Congress. The Congress has two MPs from West Bengal.
The TMC is part of the INDIA bloc and has stated that the opposition parties are united in the fight against the BJP to defeat it in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
#WATCH | On TMC announcing its candidates on all 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh says, "The Indian National Congress has always maintained that it wants a respectable seat-sharing formula with the TMC in West Bengal. It means mutual negotiations, give… pic.twitter.com/013XuFQEl1
— ANI (@ANI) March 10, 2024
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Bengal: Hundreds stage protest over 'threats' by TMC workers
Kolkata (PTI): Demanding safety after counting of votes, hundreds of villagers staged a protest in Falta in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district on Saturday, alleging they were receiving life threats from TMC workers in the area.
The protesters, many of them women and holding BJP flags, blocked the road in Hasimnagar village, alleging that local panchayat pradhan Israfil, a close associate of TMC candidate Jehangir Khan, issued them threats of attacks after poll results are announced.
The CRPF deputy commandant visited the area with a large force and assured the demonstrators of ensuring their safety.
Khan dismissed the allegations and said the women were "deployed" by the BJP to stage the demonstration and engineer the arrest of TMC functionaries in the area before the counting to "harm the morale of the TMC supporters".
"If the charges are proved, I am ready to face the law," he said.
Fatima Bibi, one of the protesters belonging to the BJP's Mahila Morcha, claimed Israfil and his men "have been visiting the area since April 30 and threatening us that there would be bloodshed from May 5. We demand CRPF remain in the area".
The CRPF official said, "We are here to instill confidence among the people with support of the local police, We have assured them of full security."
An Election Commission official said a report has been sought about the protests from the district administration.
