Mamata Banerjee announces TMC will fight 2024 General Elections alone in Bengal

Speaking to the reporters, Mamata, who was visibly angry with Congress, said, "I had no talk with anyone. My proposal for seat-sharing was turned down by them on the first day. We have already decided to go solo in the elections in Bengal. We will decide about a national approach after the elections."

Mamata claims Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, who is presently undertaking Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, did not inform her about the rally which is set to pass through the state.

"I am a part of the INDIA alliance but I haven't been even informed that the rally is passing through our state," said the TMC supremo.

Though earlier several reports had claimed TMC might offer two seats in North Bengal to Congress, later Mamata had asked her party to prepare for polls even in Congress' stronghold Murshidabad, which was speculated to have been opted out by the state's ruling party.

When asked about Mamata being disgruntled, Rahul on Tuesday boasted of his party's good terms with Mamata in arriving at a seat-sharing deal.

"The seat-sharing talks are on. We will arrive at the result... But myself and my party have a very good relationship with Mamata-ji.

"Yes, at times, some conflicting comments come from either side. These are natural things. These are not the things that are going to disrupt anything," Rahul said. 

Taking a dig at Mamata's decision and the opposition alliance, BJP IT Cell head Amit Malviya posted on X, "Mamata Banerjee’s decision to fight alone in West Bengal is a sign of desperation. Unable to hold her political ground, she wants to fight all seats, in the hope that she can still be relevant, after the polls.

"Much against her desire, to emerge as the face of the Opposition alliance, no one ever proposed her name. Her several trips to Delhi, to build a national profile, didn’t work. She just couldn’t hide the blood of post poll violence and rid herself of the nauseating stink of appeasement politics. An embarrassed Mamata, to save face, pitched for Mallikarjun Kharge, ruling herself out in the process. She realised, despite her bluster, she had no currency in the Opposition camp and had been building ground to snap out for long."

"But the fact that her announcement to go solo comes just before Rahul Gandhi’s circus arrives in Bengal, is a death knell for I.N.D.I Alliance…," he added.

In the 2019 General Elections, Mamata's TMC had received a jolt as her tally of seats went down to 22 of 42 seats while BJP won 18, the highest ever figure it recorded in the state.

But it is important to note, Mamata stormed back to power a couple of years later with over 200 of 294 seats and winning subsequent byelections in the state over the last two-three years.