In what may irk the Congress, its UPA ally Trinamul Congress on Sunday said it will contest over 100 seats in Uttar Pradesh on its own and establish its presence in Manipur, Goa and Uttarakhand in the upcoming Assembly polls.
“We will contest more than 100 seats in Uttar Pradesh alone. Our objective is to establish our party’s presence at the national level, particularly the Hindi heartland, projecting our leader Mamata Banerjee’s image of integrity and honesty,” All-India Trinamul Congress general secretary Mukul Roy told PTI.
The Trinamul Congress would contest on its own in 45 out of 60 seats in Manipur, all 40 seats in Goa in alliance with regional parties and in some constituencies in the 70-member Uttarakhand Assembly, he said.
He said the Trinamul Congress was not looking at cutting into votes of the Congress with which the party’s relations had soured recently over FDI in retail, Lokayukta provision in Lokpal Bill and on other counts.
“It is not correct to say so. There is no such thinking in our party while deciding to contest in the forthcoming UP Assembly polls in so many seats,” Mr Mukul Roy said in response to a question.
Mr Roy said that his party would contest 11 seats out of 55 seats in the first of the seven-phase phase polls in UP on February 8.
“The Trinamul Congress will go it alone and will not enter into a poll tieup with any party in UP, Manipur and Uttarakhand,” the Union minister of state for shipping said.
“It is our feeling that the Trinamul Congress will do well in Manipur and Goa and also be able to establish its presence in UP and Uttarakhand,” he said.