Trinamool offers 2 Lok Sabha seats to INDIA ally Congress in Bengal: Sources

The Trinamool Congress has offered two seats to INDIA bloc ally Congress in West Bengal for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, as per sources.

The Mamata Banerjee-led party is of the opinion that the dominant party in the state should be allowed to take the final call on seat sharing, sources added.

The seat-sharing number, as per sources, is based on a clear formula involving a look at parliamentary elections and a look at state assembly elections.

The Trinamool Congress also reiterated their choice of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge as INDIA bloc convenor. The Trinamool Congress sources said that while the party did not have anything



against Nitish Kumar, it believed that Kharge would have a better impact as the Opposition alliance’s convenor.

The Trinamool Congress believes that Kharge, who hails from the Dalit community, is the better option as he can influence 58 seats, sources said.

During the recent meeting of the Opposition INDIA bloc, held last month in New Delhi, it was decided that the seat-sharing talks for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections should be finalised at the earliest. The Trinamool Congress had sought the seat-sharing details to be finalised by December 31, 2023.

The deadline has since passed, with the INDIA bloc yet to arrive at consensus on seat-sharing.