Mamata Banerjee Releases Trinamool's Lok Sabha List for All 42 Bengal Seats

Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday announced a list of her party candidates for all the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state, dropping 10 sitting MPs.

Addressing a press conference wherein she named the candidates, Banerjee also launched an attack on the BJP and Narendra Modi government. She said she had information that "VVIPs" were using helicopters and chartered flights to transport money to voters.

The Bengal chief minister attacked the Centre over a host of issues, including the Rafale deal, farm distress and shrinking employment opportunities.

Banerjee said the outgoing TMC lawmakers whose names did not figure in the list would be drafted for party work.

She said 41% of the nominees in the list were women. The Trinamool Congress, she said, will also field candidates in some seats of Odisha, Assam, Jharkhand, Bihar and the Andamans.