Mamata Banerjee's TMC To Extend Outside Support To 'INDIA' Bloc But With This Condition

West Bengal Congress led by Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has been at the odds with Banerjee government in the state despite Congress's top leadership taking a softer stance towards the Bengal government.

West Bengal Chief Minister and chief of All India Trinamool Congress Mamata Banerjee today said that her party will extend outside support to the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) however with a rider. Addressing a poll rally, Banerjee softened her stance towards the opposition alliance which she had earlier refused to be a part of. Banerjee said that if the INDIA bloc wins the Lok Sabha poll, she will extend outside support. 

"BJP is claiming to win 400 seats, but people are saying it will not happen this time. We (TMC) will support the INDIA bloc from outside to form a government at the Centre," she said.

However, she added that her support to the INDIA bloc will be on condition that the Bengal Congress and Left are not part of the alliance. Bengal Congress led by Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has been at the odds with Banerjee government in the state despite Congress's top leadership taking a softer stance towards the Bengal government. The Left has been an arch-rival to Mamata Banerjee's TMC. "In the INDIA Bloc I am talking about, don't count the Bengal Congress and CPI(M). Those two are not with us. Those two are with the BJP," she said.

The Chief Minister has earlier claimed that the INDIA bloc will win 300 to 315 seats while the BJP will win only 195 seats. 

In the 2019 elections as well, the TMC had contested all the 42 seats alone while the Congress and the Left had forged an alliance. The same equation has been repeated this time with the state witnessing a triangular contest - BJP-led NDA vs TMC vs Congress-Left alliance.