"Congress is capable of contesting elections alone on all seats," says Bhupinder Singh Hooda

Chandigarh (Haryana) [India], February 3 : With the Opposition alliance threatening to fall apart amid rising differences over seat-sharing, former Haryana Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition, Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Saturday said that the Congress party is capable of contesting elections alone on all the seats in Haryana.
The West Bengal CM had earlier ruled out allying with the Congress, saying her party was quite capable of going it alone in the state and defeating the BJP-led NDA.
Her nephew and top TMC leader, Abhishek Banerjee, blamed the Congress for the breakdown in seat-sharing talks, saying the grand old party dragged their feet in the matter.
Earlier, on Wednesday, the INDIA parties met in the national capital to discuss the seat-sharing agenda for the Lok Sabha elections.
Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, DMK leader TR Baalu and CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury were pictured leaving Kharge's residence after the meeting.
Cracks in the INDIA bloc widened with Mamata giving a cold shoulder to the Congress and Janata Dal (United) chief Nitish Kumar dealing a further blow to the alliance after returning to the BJP-led NDA.
One of the key architects of the Bloc, Nitish also pulled out of the Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) in Bihar as he took oath as chief minister for the ninth time with support from the NDA.
Meanwhile, following Uttar Pradesh Congress in-charge Avinash Pandey's remarks that the Samajwadi Party is adopting a 'one-sided' policy in Uttar Pradesh, the party's Chief Akhilesh Yadav asserted on Wednesday that there will be an alliance in the state and that the seats will be allocated 'properly'.
The Samajwadi Party (SP) announced the names of 16 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The SP has offered 11 out of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh to the Congress.