Kolkata: Even as the Trinamool Congress initially ruled out any alliance with Congress for the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the Karnataka Assembly election victory by the Congress has apparently led TMC to think about extending “conditional support” to the grand old party of India.
Sources in TMC said that support can be extended to Congress only if they extend the same courtesy to TMC in Bengal. Such a statement comes after the TMC chairperson Mamata Banerjee finally shed some light on the role of a possible alliance with Congress for the Parliamentary elections.
Mamata said that TMC can lend support to Congress wherever the latter has a strong grounding but in return, it has to support TMC in Bengal. She said the arrangement needs to be based on a quid pro quo principle. Referring to Congress, she said: “I am supporting you in Karnataka but you are fighting against me in Bengal. This cannot be the policy.”
Commenting on whether this will translate to a possible partnership in days to come, she said: “I am not a magician and neither an astrologer. I cannot say what will happen in future.” But, she said that the final stage for a decision has not come yet. Discussions will be held once the time is ripe, she asserted. Mamata Banerjee clarified that wherever the regional parties are strong, the BJP cannot fight there.
Such parties are on the priority list of TMC. Citing examples, she named Bihar, Odisha, Chennai, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Punjab. “Strong regional parties must be given priority. Where Congress is strong let them fight there. We will support but they have to support other political parties also,” she said.
However, the state Congress President Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury is of the opinion that Trinamool is actually against a united Opposition alliance.
Citing an example, he said TMC abstained from voting when “we fielded a united opposition candidate against Jagdeep Dhankhar in the polls for Vice President.” Trinamool is also not interested in any floor coordination within the Parliament, he remarked.
He also said that TMC did raise the slogan of ‘No vote to BJP’ in Karnataka but did not for once appealed to the people of Karnataka to vote for Congress.