Oppn parties finding difficulties in fielding candidates for all 42 LS seats in Bengal: TMC

Kolkata, Mar 30 (PTI) The Trinamool Congress, which has announced its candidates for all the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal at one go, on Saturday claimed that the opposition parties, including the Left Front, are finding difficulties in fielding their nominees for the upcoming polls.

During a press conference, senior TMC leader Kunal Ghosh claimed that the CPIM-led Left front is announcing its candidates on an instalment basis, which shows "how ill-prepared they are to choose nominees for all the seats" in the state.

Ghosh was referring to the announcement of 22 candidates by the Left Front and its ally Congress till date.

Names of 20 candidates are yet to be announced by the alliance, and CPI(M) leader Biman Bose asserted that some anomalies exist in seat-adjustment talks with the Congress and ISF.

Asked about media reports that ISF leader Naushad Siddique and lesser-known BJP leaders expressed interest in entering the fray from Diamond Harbour against TMC heavyweight Abhishek Banerjee, he said, "Perhaps they want media spotlight...the result is clear. Abhishek is going to win by a margin of more than 4 lakh votes." The former TMC Rajya Sabha MP also said the Lok Sabha elections will also prove how votes of the BJP will shift to the TMC as people of West Bengal have seen "lies, falsehood and divisive politics" of the saffron camp.

"The BJP is using CBI, ED and NIA to harass opposition TMC in West Bengal ahead of the polls," he added. PTI SUS BDC