While less than four weeks left for voting for the first phase, Congress is still not clear about seat sharing in West Bengal. Actually, Congress is still hoping to have an alliance with the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC). That is why, the grand old party has no clarity on its possible seat sharing with the leftist parties.
However Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury justified the delay by saying that Congress is a big party and the leadership is in the process of finalising names. “We will put forward our views (on seat-sharing) when our turn comes,” said the Congress Bengal chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. Earlier this week, Congress announced the names of seven candidates, including Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary from Baharampur.
On the other hand, its arch-rival BJP has already announced candidates for 20 out of 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal and will announce the remaining candidates soon. Even TMC announced the names for all 42 seats, including the two that they had earlier offered to Congress. But the grand old party still hopes to reach an agreement with the ruling party before filing nominations. In Bengal, Congress still has to work out a seat-sharing arrangement with its ally. On the other hand, CPI (M) is clear that it would fight against the TMC in Bengal, even as it maintained that it was a part of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc. Congress, too, initially said it would fight TMC and BJP in the state but later moulded its stance given the keenness of the central leadership to reach an understanding with the TMC.
So far, Congress has announced seven candidate names to contest from Bengal. West Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury earlier this week said that the party has decided on candidates for seven Lok Sabha seats in the state. “We have decided candidates for seven seats, and accordingly, the candidates have been informed,” said the Bengal Congress chief. He added The Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Front has not announced candidates for these seven seats, and the development indicates an electoral understanding between the Left Front and the Congress in the state.”
The left front has been fully behind Rahul in his “fight against the RSS-BJP injustice.” Last week, senior CPI (M) leader Mohd Salim and state Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury held a meeting to discuss seat-sharing. “It is almost finalised. While the Congress will leave Murshidabad for us, we will leave Purulia and Raigunj Lok Sabha seats for them. However, their central leadership’s decision is what matters,” Salim said, adding that the party did not appreciate the fact that Congress’s second-rung leadership “was still in touch with the TMC.”
A source within the Congress told The Sunday Guardian that the Congress-left tie-up is on the cards, and in the informal discussions, the CPM has agreed to leave 12 seats for Congress. He added that the discussions took place between Congress and the Leftover last week, and the grand old party poll body has finalised the seats that are likely to come into the party account.
Last week, the Left Front, comprising the CPI (M), CPI, and Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), went ahead and unilaterally announced a list of 16 candidates, 14 of them fresh faces.