Abhishek Banerjee slams Cong after its rout in Assam hill council polls

Following Congress's abysmal harvest in the North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council (NCHAC) in Assam's Dima Hasao district, Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Abhishek Banerjee on Friday took a dig at the grand old party, saying that their seat share aspirations in Bengal were akin to aiming for the 'stars' when they couldn't even hold their ground in their own 'backyard'.

The ruling BJP retained power in the North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council (NCHAC) in Assam's Dima Hasao district, winning 25 seats in the 30-member council elections.

The overall vote share of the BJP stood at 55.52%.

The Congress drew a blank in the NCHAC polls, with the vote share being 8.87%.

The TMC, on the other hand, contested the polls for the first time and bagged 7.63% of the total votes polled.

Taking to his official handle on 'X', Abhishek posted, "Despite contesting NCHAC elections for the first time, @AITC4Assam managed a higher vote share than INC, the primary opposition."

"One might say their seat share aspirations in Bengal are akin to aiming for the stars when they couldn't quite grasp the ground in their own backyard!" he added.

In the 30-member North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council, 28 members are elected and two are nominated.

As per the results that were declared by the Assam State Election Commission, the BJP won 25 council seats, including six uncontested, while three won by independent candidates. The counting of votes began at 8 am on Friday and ended on Friday late night.

The TMC, a key constituent of the INDIA bloc, has proposed 2 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal to the Congress for the upcoming general elections.

However, according to sources, the Congress is miffed at being offered just two seats and has sought more.

In the previous Lok Sabha polls, the TMC won 22 seats, while the BJP sprung a surprise winning 18 seats. The Congress won the remaining two seats.

Earlier on Saturday, the virtual meeting of the INDIA bloc--attended by major opposition leaders except for Mamata Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav, and Uddhav Thackeray--concluded with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge being named as the chairperson of the alliance 'unanimously'.

Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal (United) national president Nitish Kumar was offered the post of convenor of the alliance, formed to take on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. But he is said to have turned down the proposal.

Meanwhile, soon after the virtual key meeting, Kharge said that the seat-sharing talks are progressing positively.