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With the poll dates for the coming Lok Sabha elections in, the Trinamool Congress and BJP are off the ground in West Bengal, having announced candidates for all the 42 seats and 20 constituencies, respectively. However, presumptive allies Congress, Left Front and Indian Secular Front (ISF) are yet to untangle their seat-sharing puzzle in Bengal.
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.
Talks between the ISF and Left at least seemed to pick up pace after TMC chief Mamata Banerjee announced candidates for all the seats, putting to rest any remaining hopes that she might concede ground to accommodate its commitment to INDIA.
Sources said the Abbas Siddiqui-led ISF initially demanded 14 seats as part of the alliance with the Left, dialling down reportedly to 8 later. The Left though does not want to part with more than 6. Incidentally, while it was formed only ahead of the 2021 Bengal Assembly polls, the ISF had won 1 seat in an election where both the Congress and Left had drawn a blank.
“We cannot give the ISF more than 6 seats. They are seeking Jadavpur and Murshidabad, but we cannot part with these as we have already announced a candidate for Jadavpur and finalised a name for Murshidabad. The ball is in the ISF’s court,” a senior CPI(M) leader said.
The Congress reportedly wants 12 seats, but the Left is trying to bring that down to 10. Sources said that additionally, while the Left Front is ready to leave Purulia and Raiganj for the Congress, it expects the grand old party to leave Murshidabad for it. “A senior CPI(M) leader belonging to the minority community may be fielded from Murshidabad,” a source said.
However, the Congress is likely to find it difficult to part with Murshidabad, which the ISF is also demanding, as it is the backyard of its West Bengal president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.
Given that the TMC announced that it would go it alone in West Bengal in January, just as Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra entered the state, the Congress and Left Front talks should have been further along.
In fact, after CPI(M) state secretary Mohammed Selim and PCC chief Chowdhury held talks, a senior CPI(M) leader had said that seat-sharing was almost finalised. However, there has not been much progress since.
“The problem is that the Congress high command has to make a decision, after which we can take a call. We are angry that it is the second-rung leadership of the Congress that has been holding talks with the TMC so far,” Selim had said, indicating one of the hiccups in the negotiations.
With no response from the Congress still, leaders of the Left Front are preparing to announce a final list of their candidates. After its list of 16 names was announced, sources in the CPI(M) said they had started with seats on which they had no talks with the Congress, but that the latter needed to hurry along. “Their central leadership is still fumbling even after the TMC announced its candidates for all the 42 seats. We can wait for them but not indefinitely,” a senior CPI(M) leader said.
The Congress is justifying the delay saying it is “a big party” and its leadership is finalising the list of candidates state-wise. “We will put forward our points when we get a chance,” Chowdhury told The Indian Express.
The Congress leader also said that just because the Left Front has announced a few candidates does not mean that the alliance is off. “We are analysing where we can take on the TMC and BJP and where the Left Front is strong. Our Central Election Committee (CEC) will finalise the names,” Chowdhury said.
