Shillong, March 10: They were meant to put up a united opposition front through the I.N.D.I.A alliance to give the BJP a run for its money in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
But less than a week before announcement of polls, daggers have been drawn between the biggest alliance partner Indian National Congress and the All India Trinamool Congress whose writ runs large in West Bengal over the announcement of candidates for the two Meghalaya Lok Sabha seats- Shillong and Tura.
AITC leader and former chief minister Mukul Sangma on Saturday lashed out at the Congress for announcing candidates for the two Lok Sabha seats in Meghalaya.
The AITC had apparantly been keen to contest from the Tura seat.
“We have waited long enough and I think one can see the whole country have been watching us, waiting patiently. There was a collective intent to have a single candidate from the INDIA Bloc to ensure that we put our strength collectively and aggregate our strength but this has not happened,” said Mukul Sangma.
The frontal attack wasn’t just one sided as the Congress’s Jairam Ramesh accused the Mamata Banerjee led party of deviating from the alliance principles by announcing its candidates for all 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal.
“Now if Congress today says that TMC has not waited and gone ahead with the announcement of all the 42 candidates in West Bengal, I think they should be reminded of the fact that the Congress is probably not grounded with what is on the ground zero,” Mukul Sangma responded.
The Congress had been keen to contest close to a dozen seats they deemed potential of a win in West Bengal as well as retaining the Berhampore Lok Sabha seat represented by state Congress president opposition leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. The seat has remained in their kitty since 1999.
Stating that the Congress is completely de-link from the ground reality, Sangma said, “Is it not a fact that they have already gone ahead and announced their candidature in respect of Meghalaya. In Meghalaya, there are two seats. Out of the two, Congress had already gone ahead and announced their candidates.”
The Trinamool Congress believes it has a better chance of taking on NPP’s Agatha K Sangma from the prestigious Tura Lok Sabha seat.
This belief stems from last year’s state assembly election results where the AITC succeded in winning 4 out of 24 seats from Garo Hills, while the Congress could muster only a single constituency- Gambegre represented by Saleng A Sangma who has now been named the Congress candidate for Tura Lok Sabha seat.
With the infighting between the INDIA alliance partners now out in the open, it will be soothing to the ears of the NPP, which is a partner of the BJP, both in state and centre.
