In a sign of rifts within the Opposition INDIA alliance, the West Bengal CPI(M) has made it clear to the Congress that while supporting Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra the party would give the Yatra a miss in the state if the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) participates in it.

The CPI(M) has sought “assurance” from the Congress that the TMC would not be part of the Yatra when the former joins it.

Rahul’s Yatra 2.0, which kicked off from Manipur on January 14, is scheduled to enter Bengal on January 25, where it is slated to traverse a stretch of 523 km across seven districts over several days.

According to Congress sources, a senior All India Congress Committee (AICC) leader called up the Bengal CPI(M)’s state secretary Mohammad Salim from Delhi Sunday to invite him to join the Yatra when it enters the state.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Salim said, “We give full support to Rahul Gandhi’s Yatra. But, we made it clear we will not participate in the Yatra with any political force who helped BJP to grow their organisation in West Bengal. It is Trinamool Congress which paved the way for BJP in Bengal to expand its organisation.”

Apart from the Congress, the TMC and the CPI(M) are among the major constituents of the Opposition INDIA bloc formed to take on the BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Congress sources said the party will also invite the TMC to participate in the Yatra, but the latter might refrain from joining it over their differences in sharing of the Bengal seats for the Lok Sabha polls. A senior state Congress leader said, “TMC wants seat-sharing confirmation from our leadership. This is impossible right now because our high command will not allow this type of bargaining. We expect that without finalising the seat-adjustment, TMC will not participate in the Yatra.”

The Congress leader also said, “We are eager to make seat adjustment with CPI(M)-led Left, which we had in the 2016 and 2021 Assembly elections. A majority of our leaders are not eager to make any adjustment with TMC. Our leaders have already made it clear to the party high command as well.”

In the 2021 Assembly elections, the TMC pulled off a hat-trick, winning 213 seats out of 294 as against the BJP’s 77. The Left Front, Congress and ISF fought the elections together in an alliance, with the Left and Congress failing to open their account and the ISF winning just one seat.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the TMC bagged 22 seats out of 42 as against the BJP’s 18. The Left and the Congress had then contested the elections separately, with the former drawing a blank and the latter winning two seats.

On Monday, which marked the inauguration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, TMC supremo and Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee led an all-faith “Sanhati (harmony) rally” in Kolkata, from where she not only slammed the BJP for “politicising religion” but also hit out at her INDIA partners.

Mamata accused the CPI(M) of “controlling” the INDIA bloc’s meetings, even as she targeted the Congress for not listening to her over seat-sharing for the polls.

“I suggested the name INDIA. But I am sad to say that when I attend the INDIA meetings I see CPI(M) controlling it. I cannot agree with those with whom I fought for 34 years,” Mamata said. “I have been told what they (INDIA allies) think they will do. I tell them not to help the BJP. If you do so, the people of India will not pardon you. If I can have the guts to take on BJP, why can’t you?”

The INDIA allies have run into a seat-sharing hurdle in Bengal, with the TMC having declined to engage in talks with the Congress’s national alliance committee over the issue while offering the party just two of its sitting seats – Berhampore and Malda Dakshin.

State Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who is also the party MP from Berhampore, has rejected the TMC’s offer, saying the grand old party had won those seats on its own in 2019 fighting against the TMC and the BJP, and that the Congress does not need any “grace or generosity” from Mamata to win them again.

Rahul’s Yatra will enter Bengal through Falakata in Alipurduar district on January 25, where it will stay on January 26 and 27. Subsequently, it will head to Chopra in North Dinajpur on its way to Malda over the next few days.

Adhir is said to be keen that Rahul’s Yatra also passes throughMurshidabad district, which is his home turf.