Assembly elections: Congress claims 92-seat deal with Left Front

Leaders in both the parties said that hard bargaining by Siddiqui was coming in the way of smooth negotiations

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.:File picture

Arkamoy Datta Majumdar   |   TT   |   Calcutta   |    02.03.21  : The Congress on Monday said it had reached a deal with the Left Front and would field candidates in 92 Assembly segments, but vowed that not a single seat would be left aside for the Indian Secular Front from its share.

“Today, we have been able to secure 92 seats for ourselves in our discussion with the Left,” Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said.

Chowdhury and Rajya Sabha member Pradip Bhattacharya represented the Congress during the seat-sharing talks with the Left Front. CPM state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra, Left Front chairman Biman Bose and politburo member Md. Salim took part in the parleys on behalf of the Left Front.

“We had asked for 130 seats from the Left parties at the beginning… We, however, may not ask for the rest any more,” Chowdhury said.

Asked how many of the 92 seats would be offered to the ISF, Chowdhury replied not a single one would be left to the new outfit.

Sources aware of the negotiations said the state Congress chief may agree to a formula of the ISF getting a few seats from the remaining 38 of the initial list that the party had placed before the Left leaders.

Chowdhury also said some seats that the alliance had initially allotted for parties like the NCP and the RJD may be considered for the ISF, a fledgling force floated by Furfura Sharif cleric Abbas Siddiqui.

Leaders in the Left and the Congress said in private that hard bargaining by Siddiqui was coming in the way of smooth negotiations on the seat sharing.

“Congress leaders are under tremendous pressure from the AICC to complete the seat sharing and hence, they would again sit with ISF functionaries to strike a deal,” said a source.

Abbas Siddiqui.: File picture

Siddiqui told The Telegraph that it wasn’t possible for his party to make adjustments in more than two to three seats. “We have a list of 60 candidates ready. However, the candidates have also been told that in a couple of seats, they may have to sacrifice. But that is true for only a few seats,” Siddiqui said.

Referring to the hiccups in negotiations with the Congress, he said that some people within the state Congress were in touch with Trinamul and were trying to disrupt the seat-sharing process.

Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma raised questions about the alliance with the ISF.

“Congress’ alliance with parties like ISF and other such forces militates against the core ideology of the party and Gandhian and Nehruvian secularism, which forms the soul of the party. These issues need to be approved by the CWC,” he tweeted.

Jitin Prasada, the Congress observer for Bengal, tweeted: “Alliance decisions are taken keeping in mind the best interests of the party and the workers. Now is the time for everyone to join hands and work towards strengthening the prospects of the Congress in the poll bound states.”