Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien said on Sunday that the party will contest the Lok Sabha elections in 14 states. O’Brien was addressing reporters at the Odisha Pradesh Trinamool Congress office in Bhubaneswar.
“We have 34 MPs in the Lok Sabha and in the Rajya Sabha 13 MPs,” the Rajya Sabha MP said according to a report on the Trinamool Congress’ website. “We have taken a decision to fight elections in 14 states. We have been the chief Opposition party in Manipur. We had MLAs in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.”
O’Brien said the Trinamool Congress Working Committee will decide when nominees for the polls will be declared, and from which constituencies they will contest. The MP said that although West Bengal and Odisha share good relations, and the Trinamool Congress respects the policies of the Biju Janata Dal, the party will contest the Lok Sabha polls in the state. He also claimed that the Biju Janata Dal has not voted against the Bharatiya Janata Party on a single bill during the last four and a half years.
O’Brien said that while the BJP-led government at the Centre has promised to double farmers’ income by 2022, the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal has trebled their incomes from 2011 to 2018. He also claimed that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was the first politician to speak out against demonetisation.
The legislator also claimed that there is “another BJP within the BJP”. He urged Trinamool Congress workers to take on the BJP that is represented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief Amit Shah.
O’Brien said the party has two “targets” for the 2019 General Elections: “2019 BJP finish”, and Modi hatao, desh bachao (Save the country by getting rid of Narendra Modi as the prime minister).
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