Chandigarh (Punjab) [India]: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday said that the ruling Aam Aadmi Party will win all 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab.
“In the 2024 Lok Sabha election…AAP will get 13 seats (in Punjab),” Mann said at a media briefing.
Mann’s remarks came amid seat-sharing talks between AAP and Congress for the Lok Sabha polls, expected in April-May this year. The two parties have reportedly paused seat-sharing talks in the border state.
Mann’s remarks are being seen as a setback to the seat-sharing talks between the two parties. Punjab has 13 Lok Sabha seats. Both AAP and Trinamool Congress are part of the INDIA bloc.
The AAP leader was asked about West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s remarks that her party Trinamool Congress would fight the Lok Sabha polls alone.
Mamata Banerjee said earlier in the day that the made by the party had not been accepted and Trinamool Congress would fight it alone in West Bengal.
“I had no discussions with the Congress party. I have always said that in Bengal, we will fight alone. I am not concerned about what will be done in the country but we are a secular party and in Bengal, we will alone will defeat BJP. I gave many proposals but they rejected them from the beginning. From then, we have decided to fight the elections in Bengal alone” the TMC supremo said.
The Bengal Chief Minister also claimed she had not been informed of Rahul Gandhi’s Nyay Yatra passing through Bengal.
“They did not even bother to inform me that they will be coming to West Bengal as a matter of courtesy even though I am a part of the INDIA bloc. So there is no with relation with me as far as Bengal is concerned” Mamata Banerjee said
“We will decide on what to do at the all-India level. We are a secular party. We will do whatever we can to defeat the BJP. The alliance does not comprise any one party. We have said that they should fight in some states and the regional parties should be left to fight alone in the other states. They should not interfere” she added.
Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has continued to attack the Bengal Chief Minister.
In a news conference on Tuesday Adhir Chowdhury claimed that in the 2011 elections, Mamata Banerjee came to power with the mercy of Congress.
“This time, the elections will not be fought at the mercy of Mamata Banerjee. The Congress defeated the BJP and TMC in the two seats that Mamata Banerjee is leaving. The Congress party knows how to contest the elections. Mamta Banerjee is an opportunist; she came to power in 2011, with the mercy of Congress,” the Congress MP said.
Rahul Gandhi who is in Assam as part of his Nyay Yatra tried to contain the damage by insisting that he had a good relationship with the TMC supremo.
“The negotiations on seat-sharing is underway, I don’t want to comment here. But Mamata Banerjee is very close to me and our party. Sometimes our leaders say something, their leaders say something, and it goes on. It’s a natural thing. Such comments won’t matter and these are not things that are going to disrupt things,” Rahul Gandhi said on Tuesday.
The Trinamool Congress reportedly was willing to offer the Congress two to three Lok Sabha seats of the 42 seats in Bengal. In the 2019 elections, the Congress had won two Lok Sabha seats while the TMC had won 22 seats.
