The recently concluded North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council (NCHAC) elections in Assam that saw the Congress and Trinamool Congress (TMC) draw a blank have become another point of contention between the INDIA bloc allies amid seat-sharing talks for the Lok Sabha polls that seem to have hit a wall.

After Friday’s NCHAC results that saw the BJP complete a near sweep by winning 25 of the 28 seats, TMC general secretary and the party’s de facto number two Abhishek Banerjee took a dig at the Congress.

“Despite contesting NCHAC elections for the first time (the TMC) managed a higher vote share than (the Congress) – the primary opposition. One might say their seat share aspirations in Bengal are akin to aiming for the stars when they couldn’t quite grasp the ground in their own backyard,” Abhishek wrote on social media late Saturday night.

Though both parties failed to win a single seat, the TMC won a higher vote share in the 11 seats it contested at 12.4% compared to the Congress’s 8.87% across 22 seats.

Despite contesting NCHAC elections for the first time @AITC4Assam managed a higher vote share than INC – the primary opposition.

One might say their seat share aspirations in Bengal are akin to aiming for the stars when they couldn’t quite grasp the ground in their own backyard! pic.twitter.com/YUDw8qlR32

— Abhishek Banerjee (@abhishekaitc) January 13, 2024

Abhishek’s remark comes amid increasingly difficult seat-sharing negotiations between the two parties for West Bengal. The possibility of a seat-sharing pact receded further on Thursday with the TMC signalling it would not meet the five-member national alliance committee of the Congress that has been holding talks with parties of the INDIA bloc to work out seat adjustments in states. Sources in the TMC said the party had already conveyed its offer to the Congress. On Saturday, the TMC skipped the INDIA alliance’s coordination panel meeting saying it had been informed about it at short notice.

Sources said the TMC had offered the Malda Dakshin and Baharampur Lok Sabha seats, both of which are currently held by the Congress. But West Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has already rejected the offer saying the party 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 TMC chief and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee to win those seats.

“I can fight it alone against Banerjee and the BJP because I have proved it. My colleague and I can fight in both the seats on our own. We don’t require any grace from Banerjee to retain the two seats,” Chowdhury told The Indian Express.

“We have offered them two seats. The Congress got over 30% votes in only two of the 42 seats in Bengal. How can they claim more seats? If the top Congress leadership speaks to Mamata Banerjee directly, maybe she will concede one more seat. So there is no point in meeting the Congress alliance committee. Our offer is very clear,” a senior TMC leader told The Indian Express.

The Congress wants more seats such as Raiganj, Malda Uttar, Jangipur, and Murshidabad. But with the TMC refusing to come to the negotiating table, the possibility of a pact between the parties looks bleak. Sources said the Congress alliance committee had contacted the TMC for a meeting but the TMC conveyed that it was not keen on sending any representative for talks.

On Sunday, the Congress’s Bengal spokesperson Soumya Aich Roy said, “We know this model. This model is basically working as the BJP’s agency. The TMC fought in many states like Tripura, Goa, Mizoram, Assam to give an advantage to the BJP. They are not fighting against the BJP. We know that. Why are they so eager to make an alliance with the Congress in West Bengal? We are not eager to do that. We did not invite them either. But the TMC is saying how many seats they will give us. We know we are fighting against BJP and fighting against BJP and TMC (in Bengal).”

In Assam, where the Congress has finished as the runner-up in the previous two Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, the NCHAC election has further allowed the BJP to consolidate its position. It also reflects the shrinking ground beneath the feet of Congress that won three seats last time. The setback comes as the party gets set to begin its Bharat Jodo Nyaya Yatra from Manipur on Sunday before passing through Assam, where it will spend eight days. It is also not clear if the TMC will participate in the West Bengal leg of the yatra and how extensive its participation will be, if any.