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The two seats were Berhampore, Adhir Ranjan's bastion, and Malda South which the Congress had won in 2019.
Mamata Banerjee wanted the seat-sharing formula to be based on the performance of the parties in the 2019 Lok Sabha election and the 2021 West Bengal polls. The Trinamool had cited that Congress garnered a vote share of less than five per cent and failed to win a single seat in the Assembly polls.
The TMC supremo had proposed that the Congress should let go of its "big brother" privilege and let regional parties deal with the elections in their strongholds.
However, a dogged Adhir Chowdhury was in no mood to step back and called it her "bahana" (excuse) to divide the vote between "Modi and Didi". Mamata Banerjee is also fondly called "Didi" in Bengal, meaning elder sister.
Things came to a head after, at a meeting of the Trinamool's top brass last week, it was decided that the party would contest all 42 seats, including Adhir Chowdhury's Berhampore. Chowdhury has been winning the Berhampore seat since 1999.
It set off alarm bells in the Congress, with Chowdhury calling Banerjee an opportunist, and saying that the party would contest the Lok Sabha election without her assistance.
The damage had been done. On Tuesday, Rahul Gandhi attempted to placate Banerjee, saying such comments by Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury wouldn't matter, and he was close to the Bengal CM.
Mamata Banerjee called off the alliance. The Trinamool Congress is also unlikely to join the Rahul Gandhi-led 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra' when it enters West Bengal on January 25.
While veteran Congress leader Jairam Ramesh offered an olive branch minutes after Banerjee's statement, saying they cannot imagine I.N.D.I.A without TMC, it seems the damage is now beyond repair.