Can't strengthen alliance at party's cost, say TMC MPs after Mamata announces going solo

New Delhi, PTI: The Congress has no base in West Bengal and the TMC will not try to strengthen the opposition alliance at its own cost, leaders from the Mamata Banerjee-led party said on Tuesday after she declared it will go solo in the 2026 assembly polls. On Monday, Banerjee told party lawmakers at a meeting in Kolkata that the Trinamool Congress would fight alone in the 2026 assembly elections in the state, dismissing any possibility of forging a coalition with the Congress or any other party.

She also expressed confidence about winning the elections with a two-third majority. Asked about the TMC chief's decision, Bardhaman-Durgapur Lok Sabha member Kirti Azad used a Hindi phrase for the Congress - "Rassi jal gayi, par bal nahi gaya (the rope has burnt, but the knots remain)". Launching a scathing attack at the Congress, Azad blamed it for the AAP's defeat in Delhi, and accused it of "backstabbing" allies. He also said the Congress has no right to be in the INDIA bloc. "The biggest problem with the Congress is that it does not have any base. If it had fought with the AAP in Delhi, they could have formed a government together. But it impacted the results in 14 seats and AAP lost," Azad said. "Congress is a sinking boat, it is unable to understand that when the BJP was nothing, it came to power in states with others... It is a different matter that it backstabbed them. But the Congress is already drowning, yet it is backstabbing its own alliance partners," he said.

"It has so much arrogance, the way it is behaving with its own alliance partners, it has no right to stay in the alliance. You formed the INDIA bloc to remove the BJP, and people are saying that Mamata Banerjee should head the alliance," he added. Lok Sabha member from Dum Dum Sougata Roy said the TMC cannot strengthen the alliance at its own cost. "Mamata is the supremo of our party, what she says is the view of the party. She has proved in the past that TMC alone is strong enough to fight the BJP. We won 29 out of the 42 seats in Lok Sabha, and will improve it further next time.

We cannot strengthen the opposition alliance at our own cost," he said. Samajwadi Party's Rajya Sabha member Ram Gopal Yadav also backed Banerjee, saying, "This goes on in politics. It's true... Trinamool will finish whatever is left of BJP in Bengal." Congress leader Raman Singh, however, said while all parties have right to decide for hemelves, any decision on future f action will be taken by INDIA bloc.