TMC abandons INDIA bloc, fields 42 candidates for Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], March 10 : Abandoning the Mallikarjun Kharge-led INDIA bloc, Trinamool Congress on Sunday announced its candidates for all 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal for the upcoming general elections.
Giving a message of TMC going solo in the Lok Sabha polls, party General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee announced the list that included certain surprises from former cricketers Yusuf Pathan from Berhampore and Kirti Azad from the Bardhaman Durgapur Lok Sabha seat.
Sukanta Majumdar, the President of the West Bengal BJP, raised questions about TMC's decision to field Yusuf Pathan and Kirti Azad.
"Just half an hour before the TMC's list was announced, Abhishek Banerjee was making statements like BJP is anti-Bengal. Now, when the candidates are announced, it's clear that TMC is bringing people from outside. I don't know if Kirti Azad and Yusuf Pathan are Bengali, Yusuf Pathan is from Gujarat, and so is PM Modi, but for them, PM Modi is an outsider," he said.
The list was announced by Abhishek Banerjee at Brigade Parade ground on Sunday.
Abhishek Banerjee, the nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will contest from Diamond Harbour.
Mahua Moitra, who was expelled from Lok Sabha in the Winter session last year has been given a ticket from Krishnanagar constituency.
Meanwhile, Mukut Mani Adhikari who recently quit the Bharatiya Janata Party has also been given a ticket from Ranaghat Lok Sabha seat.
Shatrughan Sinha is set to again contest from Asansol, a seat he had won earlier in 2022 bypoll.
TMC has fielded Jagadish C Basuniya from Cooch Behar, Prakash Chik Baraik from Alipurduar, Nirmal Ch Roy from Jalpaiguri, Gopal Lama from Darjeeling.
Krishna Kalyani has been fielded from Raiganj whereas Biplab Mitra and Prasun Banerjee will contest from Balurghat and Malda Uttar respectively.
On the announcement of the candidates, Trinamool Congress said that the ruling party in Bengal will stand with the common people as part of its committment.
"Under the leadership of Chairperson @MamataOfficial, we're pleased to announce the names of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. We are steadfast in our commitment to stand by the common people against the deprivation of the Central Govt. When it comes to confronting the @BJP4India jomidars head-on and responding in the language they understand best, the Twin Flower is people's only choice!," TMC posted on X.
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, who was also sharing the stage when the list was released, asserted that her party will contest elections in multiple states in the upcoming Lok Sabha election.
"TMC will contest the election against BJP, Congress, and CPM in West Bengal. TMC will fight alone here in Bengal. TMC will also fight in Assam, Uttar Pradesh. For one seat, there has been a discussion with Samajwadi leader Akhilesh Yadav. We will also fight in Meghalaya," she said.
The party also announced to field Shahnawaz Ali Raihan from Malda Dakshin. From Jangipur, Khalilur Rahman has been given the ticket to contest the polls.
Abu Taher Khan has also been given a ticket from Murshidabad, Biswajit Das from Bongaon and Partha Bhowmick from Barrackpore.
TMC leader Saugata Roy is set to contest from Dum Dum, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar from Barasat, Haji Nurul Islam from Basirhat, and Pratima Mondal has been given a ticket from Joynagar constituency.
From Mathurapur, Bapi Halder will contest whereas Saayoni Ghosh has been fielded from the Jadavpur seat.

Meanwhile, Congress General Secretary (Communications), Jairam Ramesh expressed his dissatisfaction and said that a "unilateral announcement" should not have been made by the TMC.

"The Indian National Congress has always maintained that it wants a respectable seat-sharing formula with the TMC in West Bengal. It means mutual negotiations, give and take, some compromise. We have always said that our doors are open for negotiations and seat-sharing talks but there should be no unilateral announcement of the seats, we should do it collectively together as we have done in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Delhi, UP, and so on," Jairam Ramesh said.
"The TMC has announced, I don't know what pressure was there on the TMC but as far as we are concerned we want to strengthen the INDIA alliance in West Bengal. So let's see what happens," he added.
The ruling party also fielded Mala Roy from Kolkata Dakshin, Sudip Bandhopadhyay from Kolkata Uttar and Prasun Banerjee from Howrah.
Meanwhile, Sajda Ahmed will contest from Uluberia, Kalyan Banerjee from Serampore, Rachana Banerjee from Hooghly and Mitali Bag from Arambagh seat.
TMC further announced that Debangshu Bhattacharya will contest from Tamluk, Uttam Barik from Kanthi , Deepak Adhikari (Dev) from Ghatal, Kalipada Soren from Jhargram and June Malia from Medinipur.
From Purulia, Shantiram Mahato has been fielded whereas Arup Chakrabarty will contest from Bankura.
Sujata Mondal from Bishnupur, Dr Sharmila Sarkar from Bardhaman Purba , Asit Kumar Mal from Bolpur and Satabdi Roy from Birbhum have also been given a ticket by TMC.
The Trinamool Congress kicked off the campaign for the upcoming elections through its show of strength.
In the previous Lok Sabha polls, the TMC won 22 seats while the BJP sprung a major surprise, winning 18 seats.
The Congress won the remaining two seats.In 2019, the BJP-led National Democratic (NDA) won a total of 303 seats, leaving the grand-old party behind at 52 seats.
The Lok Sabha polls are expected to be held in April-May this year.