Days after Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced her party's decision to contest all 42 Lok Sabha seats alone, she launched a scathing attack on the Congress saying she doubts if the grand old party would be able to win even 40 seats in the general elections.
"I doubt if you (Congress) will win 40. I was offering two seats and would have let them win. But they wanted more. I said okay, contest on all 42 then. There has been no conversation with them since," she said defending the TMC's move to contest alone.
She expressed her disappointment over learning about Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra passing through West Bengal from unofficial sources.
"They have come to do a programme in Bengal but did not even inform me as an INDIA bloc member. I got to know through administrative sources. They had called Derek O'Brien to request that the rally be allowed to pass through."
Further, she dared the Congress to defeat the BJP in Varanasi.
Meanwhile, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said his party was discussing the seat-sharing arrangements for the Lok Sabha polls with TMC and the issue would be "resolved".
He made the comment while interacting with the party's 'digital media warriors' in West Bengal on Thursday night.
When asked why the Congress was giving importance to Banerjee despite her unwillingness to leave a single Lok Sabha seat for the Congress in the state, Gandhi said, "Neither Mamataji has said, nor the Congress has come out of the alliance (sic)."
"Even Mamata-ji is saying that she is in the alliance. Seat negotiations are on from both ends. It will be resolved," he said during the interaction, a video of which was shared on X.
