West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Tuesday doubled down on his attack on chief minister Mamata Banerjee over the distribution of constituencies in the state to contest the Lok Sabha election. Targeting the Trinamool Congress supremo, Chowdhury called Mamata Banerjee an “opportunist” and said the elections would not be fought at her mercy.

“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 state Congress president said at a press conference.

Chowdhury’s remarks came not long after party leader Rahul Gandhi said the West Bengal CM is “very close” to him, adding that the state Congress chief’s comments against Banerjee on seat-sharing “won’t matter”.

“The negotiations on seat-sharing are 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,” Gandhi said on the sidelines of his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra.

Issue related to the distribution of seats

Both Congress and TMC are allies of the INDIA bloc that vowed to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party in the upcoming general election. However, the national-level commitment faces a roadblock at the state level when both parties are at loggerheads in seat-sharing.

Out of 42 Lok Sabha seats, the Congress is likely to get only two, given that it won in those constituencies in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The official seat-sharing talks have yet to take place, but the TMC has suggested they should be done based on each party’s performance.

Meanwhile, Mamata Banerjee had criticised the Congress for causing a delay in seat-sharing discussions, citing “unjustified” demand for 10-12 Lok Sabha constituencies.