Former Team India cricketer Yusuf Pathan is the Trinamool’s candidate from Baharampur, a Congress stronghold represented by its Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.
Though the Congress is yet to name its candidates for Bengal, Mr Chowdhury is likely to seek a recontest from the seat that he has represented five times in the Lok Sabha.
The Mamata Banerjee-led party today announced candidates for all 42 seats in Bengal, making it official there is no alliance with the non-BJP parties in the state.
The Congress and Trinamool are together in the INDIA alliance – at least for the optics – though it has not shaped into a seat-sharing strategy in Bengal. The Trinamool is believed to have offered Baharampur and another seat to the Congress, but decided to go solo as the grand old party wanted a bigger share of seats.
Fielding a popular figure from Mr Chowdhury’s stronghold is also being seen as Trinamool’s response to his repeated attacks on the party.
In a swift response, the Congress said it has repeatedly declared its desire to have a respectable seat-sharing agreement with the Trinamool in West Bengal.
“The Indian National Congress has always maintained that such an agreement has to be finalised through negotiations and not by unilateral annoumcements. The Indian National Congress has always wanted the INDIA group to fight the BJP together,” said senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh.
