"I offered 2, but...." : Mamata Banerjee reveals why she chose going solo over Congress in Bengal

West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress Supremo Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday hit out at the Congress, refusing to share a single seat with her INDIA bloc partner in Bengal, unless the grand old party lets go of its alliance with CPIM in the state. "Won't give you a single seat", said Mamata Banerjee who also claimed that while Trinamool Congress had offered two Lok Sabha seats to Congress, however, the grand old party had wantwd more in Bengal.

“CPIM leds you in Bengal, you have to leave their side first. CPIM has tortured us here," said Mamata Banerjee while adressing a public gathering in Maldah, West Bengal. "CPIM has tortured us, beaten us, they may have forgotten but, I have not. I remember everything, and that is why I believe that an alliance can only be forged with someone who will take your side, guide you, respect you and encourage all your endeavours," she added.

Shunning the INDIA bloc, earlier this month, Mamata Banerjee stated that her party would fight solo from Bengal, stating that seat sharing talks had remained inconclusive after round one.

Currently, the Congress has two Lok Sabha MPs in Bengal - Abu Hasem Khan Chowdhury from South Malda and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury from Beharampore Lok Sabha constituency. under Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who also happens to be Congress's leader in Lok Sabha.

"I told Congress you don’t have a single MLA here, I am offering two MP seats in Malda. We will ensure you win in those two seats. They said no, we want more seats. I said, now I’m not going to give a single seat," Mamata Banerjee's remarks from the public meeting on Wednesday confirming Trinamool Congress's aversion towards Adhir's leadership in the Lok Sabha, especially after the kind of comments Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has made against Mamata Banerjee and the Trinamool Congress.

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury had called Mamata Banerjee an "oppertunist", after the Trinamool Congress Supremo had declared her "going solo" stance in Bengal.

Adhir's diatribes irked several Trinamool Congress leaders, who have alleged that the Congress state President has been working at the behest of BJP in Bengal, hindering the plausibility of seat sharing in the state. “The three reasons for the I.N.D.I.A alliance not working in Bengal are 1) Adhir 2) Adhir and 3) Adhir…Adhir is the gravedigger of his own party,”said TMC MP Derek O'Brien.