The Congress remains open to a seat-sharing agreement with the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh said on Sunday, reported PTI.

Both the Trinamool Congress and the Congress are members of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, or INDIA bloc – a coalition of 28 Opposition parties that plans to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance in the general elections.

However, Trinamool Congress party leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had announced in January that her party will contest all 42 of the state’s Lok Sabha seats alone.

Ahead of the INDIA bloc’s joint rally in Patna on Sunday, Ramesh told PTI that the Congress is still open to negotiating a seat-sharing formula with the Trinamool Congress.

“We have not closed any doors,” Ramesh told the news agency. “She has unilaterally announced that she will contest all 42 seats [in West Bengal], well that is her announcement. As far as we are concerned, talks are still continuing, the doors are still open and the final word will not be said till the final word is said.”

On February 23, Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien had reiterated his party’s stand saying that there was no change in its decision to contest the general election on its own strength, reported The Indian Express.

The Congress is also yet to agree on a seat-sharing formula with its INDIA bloc ally the Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab. However, the two have come to a seat-sharing agreement for the Lok Sabha polls in Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Chandigarh and Goa.