TMC says it has 'open heart' for Congress, but ready to go solo in West Bengal if needed
Kolkata, Jan 6: The Trinamool Congress on Saturday said it has an "open heart" for the Congress regarding seat-sharing in West Bengal for the Lok Sabha elections, but it was also prepared to go solo if the talks fail.
Speaking to PTI, TMC's leader in Lok Sabha Sudip Bandopadhyay said what local Congress leaders are thinking about the sharing of seats is immaterial as the final decision will be taken by the top brass of the two parties.
"Our leader Mamata Banerjee has already said that we have an open heart for the Congress. Now, what they will do is up to them. Whether there will be an in West Bengal will be decided by Sonia Gandhi and Mamata Banerjee. What local Congress leaders think is immaterial," he said.
The comment comes two days after state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said his party won't beg for seats from the TMC.
Another senior TMC leader, who refused to be named as he is not authorised to speak on the issue, said the party was open to having an alliance in West Bengal but was also ready to go solo if needed.
TMC was considering leaving four of the state's 42 Lok Sabha seats for the Congress, multiple leaders privy to the discussions confirmed.
In the 2019 elections, the TMC won 22 seats, the Congress won two, and the BJP secured 18 seats in the state. Chowdhury, also the leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha, won the Baharampur seat in Murshidabad district, and Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury, a former Union minister, secured a third straight win from the Maldaha Dakshin seat in the neighbouring Malda district.
Banerjee, the TMC chief, had earlier expressed confidence about an alliance between the TMC, Congress and the Left in West Bengal. The "proposal" was dismissed instantly by her arch-rival CPI(M) and criticised by some leaders of the Congress.
A few days later, she accused the two parties of joining hands with the BJP, asserting that it is the TMC that will take on the saffron camp in West Bengal.
The TMC earlier allied with the Congress for the 2001 assembly polls, 2009 Lok Sabha elections and 2011 assembly polls, in which they uprooted the CPI(M)-led Left Front government of 34 years.
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J-K: Six held with drugs, assets worth Rs 73 lakh attached in Udhampur
Jammu (PTI): Six persons were taken into custody during an intensified anti-narcotics crackdown, with police recovering contraband substances and over Rs 23 lakh in Doda and Kathua districts of Jammu and Kashmir, police said on Monday.
In a parallel action, properties worth over Rs 73 lakh linked to drug peddlers were also attached in Udhampur district under relevant legal provisions, the police said.
Additional Superintendent of Police, Doda, Mohd Aslam said three persons, including a woman, were detained during a raid on a house at Dak Mohalla in the main town following recovery of 85 grams of suspected brown sugar and over Rs 23 lakh on Sunday evening.
He identified the woman as Zareena Begum, stating that she had been under police surveillance following inputs indicating her involvement in drug peddling.
Besides Zareena, officials said her daughter and son-in-law were also picked up by police during the raid.
“We have taken three individuals into custody. Their roles are being examined, and based on that, arrests will be made. We are continuing raids at other suspected locations,” Aslam said.
Three drug peddlers --Pardeep Singh of Hiranagar, Rahees Butt of Billawar and Ali Sen of Amritsar (Punjab) -- were arrested along with heroin at different places in Kathua district, a police spokesman said.
He said while 2.79 gm of heroin was seized from Singh, 2.66 gm were recovered Butt. Similarly, 303 gm of heroin was seized from Sen who was intercepted near Berrian-Pattan village while moving in a private car from Bhagthali to Maggar Khad on the Jammu-Pathankot highway.
All the three were booked under the NDPS Act and further investigations are on, the spokesman said.
In Udhampur, the spokesman said properties worth Rs 73 lakh were attached in two separate cases registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
The attached properties included a newly constructed residential house, a car, a motorcycle and a mobile phone with a total value of Rs 65 Lakh, belonging to accused Saif Ali who was booked under the NDPS case in Majalta area early this year, he said.
In another action, movable property worth Rs 8 lakh comprising a car, belonging to accused Danish Butt of Doda has been attached under Section 68(F) NDPS Act in connection with an FIR registered at Rehambal police station, the spokesman said.
