Ignore Adhir Chowdhury, and stay united to contest and win all 42 seats from Bengal.

That was Trinamul Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee's message to her leaders and workers from Murshidabad district who gathered at a meeting at Banerjee's Kalighat residence to draw up plans for the upcoming LS polls.

The message from the Trinamul chief sparked off fervent speculations on whether the party considers the possibility of a pre-electoral alliance with the Congress an impossibility in Bengal.

While choosing to remain ambiguous about the future of a possible alliance with the Congress, Banerjee advised her district leaders to gear up for contesting all three seats in Murshidabad.

The seat-sharing arrangement between Congress and TMC is an issue of high political interest, especially in Murshidabad. Trinamul won two of three Lok Sabha seats in this district for the first time in 2019. Despite winning in Jangipur and Murshidabad in the last elections, TMC failed to trounce Chowdhury in Beherampur, although there was a dip in the Congress MP's winning margin.

Chowdhury, who is known for his verbal innuendos, recently issued a challenge to Mamata, saying, "If you have the courage, come to Bahrampur and contest. Will defeat and send you back to Calcutta." Trinamul responded to this jibe saying, "Mamata is asked to come and contest in Bahrampur. Did Adhir leave Murshidabad and contest in Calcutta at the time when Mamata had been winning in South Calcutta year after year?"

Abhishek Banerjee, the national general secretary of Trinamul, who was present at the Friday meeting was learned to have referred to the Sagardighi MLA, Byron Biswas, who won on a Congress ticket and jumped ship to the Trinamul, and stated that the central agencies have been raiding him since his switch.

Similar comments were made regarding Zafikul Islam, the Trinamul MLA from Domkal. Both leaders have been raided by central agencies in the recent past.

Sources further confirmed that Banerjee warned bickering party leaders in Murshidabad to tide past their differences during the run up to the polls and threatened them with decisive disciplinary steps if they failed to work in harmony.