Amid rift in the seat sharing in, the Trinamool Congress is expected to run in all 42 Lok Sabha constituencies from West Bengal. According to the sources, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee advised party leaders to get ready for fighting the elections alone and not to consider seat-sharing negotiations during a closed-door organisational meeting in the TMC bastion region of Birbhum.It is to be noted here that this development has come after against the backdrop of a state-level dispute about seat sharing among allies of the INDIA group. With reference to the Congresss unjustified demand for 10–12 Lok Sabha seats, Chief Minister Banerjee had slammed the party for delaying discussions about seat sharing in West Bengal. Given that it has performed better in those elections, the TMC is only willing to grant Congress two seats.Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the state Congress chairman, has been criticising Mamata Banerjee and the TMC for running in the general elections in the midst of all the negotiations. Chowdhury referred to the chief minister of West Bengal as a opportunist on Tuesday and stated that the Congress would not fight the elections at her whim.On the other hand, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi dismissed Chowdhurys criticism by saying such comments wont matter, adding that Mamata Banerjee is very close to him.“Our negotiations over seats are on. The conclusion will be evident. I dont want to comment on that here. I have a very good personal relationship with Mamata Ji and so does our party,” Rahul Gandhi said at a press conference.
