Lok Sabha polls | As TMC decides to go solo, INDIA bloc partners eye minority votes 

Kolkata's Trinamool Congress goes alone in Lok Sabha poll, setting the stage for a triangular contest amid clamor for minority votes.

With Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress deciding to go alone in the Lok Sabha poll in West Bengal, the stage seems to be set for a triangular contest in the State amid a clamour for minority votes.

According to political analysts, the seat sharing between the TMC, Congress and the CPI (Marxist) was highly unlikely from the beginning as the Banerjee-led outfit has never ceded any space to any Opposition party in the State.

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With the TMC pitted against the BJP and its INDIA bloc partners, it needs to keep intact its minority vote base, which constitutes 27% of the State’s population.

Political analysts also say that after the defeat in the 2021 Assembly election, the BJP too has softened its stance against Muslims, with its party leader Suvendu Adhikari reaching out to the community.

The BJP had posed a major challenge to the TMC in the last general election, winning 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the State. The TMC had won 22 and the Congress 2. The Left failed to open its account.

According to analysts, the minority votes will turn crucial as the BJP will try to consolidate its vote base among Hindus banking on a slew of nationalistic issues and the inauguration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.