'Open heart' for Cong, but ready to go solo in Bengal if needed: TMC

The Trinamool Congress on Saturday said it has an "open heart" for the Congress regarding seat-sharing in West Bengal for the Lok Sabha elections, but it was also prepared to go solo if the talks fail.

Speaking to PTI, TMC's leader in Lok Sabha Sudip Bandopadhyay said what local Congress leaders are thinking about the sharing of seats is immaterial as the final decision will be taken by the top brass of the two parties.

"Our leader Mamata Banerjee has already said that we have an open heart for the Congress. Now, what they will do is up to them. Whether there will be an in West Bengal will be decided by Sonia Gandhi and Mamata Banerjee. What local Congress leaders think is immaterial," he said.

The comment comes two days after state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said his party won't beg for seats from the TMC.

Another senior TMC leader, who refused to be named as he is not authorised to speak on the issue, said the party was open to having an alliance in West Bengal but was also ready to go solo if needed.

TMC was considering leaving four of the state's 42 Lok Sabha seats for the Congress, multiple leaders privy to the discussions confirmed.

In the 2019 elections, the TMC won 22 seats, the Congress won two, and the BJP secured 18 seats in the state. Chowdhury, also the leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha, won the Baharampur seat in Murshidabad district, and Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury, a former Union minister, secured a third straight win from the Maldaha Dakshin seat in the neighbouring Malda district.

Banerjee, the TMC chief, had earlier expressed confidence about an alliance between the TMC, Congress and the Left in West Bengal. The "proposal" was dismissed instantly by her arch-rival CPI(M) and criticised by some leaders of the Congress.

A few days later, she accused the two parties of joining hands with the BJP, asserting that it is the TMC that will take on the saffron camp in West Bengal.

The TMC earlier allied with the Congress for the 2001 assembly polls, 2009 Lok Sabha elections and 2011 assembly polls, in which they uprooted the CPI(M)-led Left Front government of 34 years.