Trinamool Congress (TMC) president and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is not interested for an alliance among constituents of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) in West Bengal, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections next year, Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has said.

Speaking to reporters in Murshidabad district on Saturday, Chowdhury said: “The chief minister herself doesn’t want an alliance in West Bengal because she would have problems. It is she who has ruined the prospect of an alliance. If you listen to her speeches, you would see that she herself doesn’t want it.”

The Congress leader’s remarks came days after Banerjee indicated that the INDIA bloc was formed only to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the national level. “The TMC will fight the BJP in West Bengal while the INDIA bloc will be there in the rest of the country. Only the TMC can teach the BJP a lesson in West Bengal and set a model for others, across the country. No other party can do it,” she said during a party workers’ meeting in North 24 Parganas on Thursday.

Chowdhury said the Congress is going ahead with its poll preparations. “We are going ahead with our own preparations. We don’t care who is coming with us or leaving us. We have defeated the TMC and BJP in Murshidabad several times and we will do it again,” he said.

In the 2019 elections, the TMC had won 22 out of the total 42 Lok Sabha seats while the Congress bagged two seats – Berhampore and Malda South.

Earlier last week, Congress MP Abu Hashem Khan Chowdhury (Dalu) had told reporters that the TMC has agreed to cede the two seats to the Congress for the 2024 polls.

“Mamata Banerjee is giving up two seats – Berhampore and Malda South – for the Congress. We are looking for more places (seats). Hopefully, there won’t be any problems with the alliance,” he said.

The TMC, however, hit back at Chowdhury and alleged the Congress had handed over all the assembly segments in the Murshidabad district to the BJP.

“Some Congress leaders, after going around with CPI(M) leaders, are now towing the same lines. Chowdhury may sell his conscience, we won’t. The Congress has been reduced to zero in the state assembly. I don’t know who is instigating him. Why did he hand over all the seats in Murshidabad district to the BJP,” state minister Firhad Hakim said.