CPM backs out of 32 seats for Cong

Adhir Chowdhury

TT, Calcutta, March 12: The CPM has offered to withdraw its candidates from the 32 seats the Congress held in the outgoing Assembly, looking to reduce the possibility of a split in anti-Trinamul votes.

Early this week, the Congress had released a list of 75 seats it wished to contest (but not named any candidates). Of these, 15 featured in the Left's current list of 207 candidates, announced in two phases. These common 15 seats include eight of the 32 seats the Congress now holds.

Congress sources said that state unit president Adhir Chowdhury had met CPM secretariat member Rabin Deb and discussed seat shares till 3am on Friday.

"Of the 15 seats that both the Congress and the Left wished to contest, a consensus has been reached on eight. The CPM has agreed to withdraw its candidates from the seats where we had sitting MLAs," Congress legislature party leader Mohammad Sohrab said today.

Surjya Kanta Mishra

Most of the 32 seats the CPM has offered to give up are in Murshidabad, Chowdhury's home turf. Sohrab's constituency of Jangipur is among the seats that figure on both parties' lists.

Surjya Kanta Mishra 

Sources said that Congress senior Somen Mitra met Deb later this evening to demand some other seats too that the Left had given to allies such as the Janata Dal United, Nationalist Congress Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal.

"The Congress has been told to settle the issue with these parties," a CPM source said.

Late this evening, the Congress was said to have withdrawn its claim on the Jaipur seat in Purulia, where the Forward Bloc has put up a candidate.

Chowdhury had earlier this week suggested the possibility of "friendly fights" in some seats.

The Left's decision to withdraw its candidates from 32 seats comes a day after CPM veteran Shyamal Chakraborty had said the party would "back out" of seats where it felt the Congress might put up a better fight against Trinamul.

State CPM secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra too had urged cadres to make "sacrifices" for the sake of the electoral understanding with the Congress.

In 2011, the Congress had won 42 seats in an alliance with Trinamul, but 10 of the legislators have switched to Trinamul.

CPM sources said a consensus would also be reached on the 12 seats that figure neither on the Left list nor on the Congress list.

"We don't want any bitterness in the talks process. We'll try to reach an understanding on the remaining seats," a CPM state secretariat member said.

Congress sources said they were keen on contesting another 12 seats to reach a "respectable figure".

"Our high command is keeping a tab. There was near-unanimity in the state unit on an understanding with the Left. If it now appears that we have surrendered to the CPM over most of the seats, it would not go down well with Delhi," a Congress source said.

The Bengal Congress's election committee met at the party headquarters today, selected 34 candidates and sent the names to the All India Congress Committee for approval. The Congress, till now, has finalised 12 names.

"There are minor hitches in the electoral understanding. In more than 90 per cent of the seats, there will be one-to-one fights against Trinamul," Chowdhury said today.

Mishra too sounded positive. "The talks are going on well. The problems would be settled amicably. In the districts, people are happy that we are fighting together to defeat Trinamul," Mishra said.