With West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee giving enough hints of Trinamool Congress going it alone in the state in the Lok Sabha polls, the state unit of Congress is waiting for the high-command’s approval to initiate seat-sharing talks with the CPI(M)- led Left Front in the state.
Sources in West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) said that although the majority in the state unit of the party are quite on having a seat-sharing agreement with Left Front, the formal approval from the party high-command to start the same is awaited.
“Probably, the high command was trying to feel the pulse on how far Trinamool Congress will be flexible in the seat-sharing talks with Congress. The indication was already there that Trinamool Congress was not willing to spare more than two seats for us, where Congress has sitting party Lok Sabha members. Now since the chief minister has given the clear indication of fielding candidates from all the 42 constituencies in West Bengal, now we hope to get the go-ahead signal from the high command to initiate seat sharing talks with the Left Front,” said a senior WBPCC leader.
According to him, the state Congress in the probable seat-sharing talks with the Left Front would like to claim stakes for eight to 10 seats, the prominent of which will be all three in Murshidabad district, both the seats in Malda, one each from North Dinajpur, Darjeeling and Purulia.
The state Congress leadership is more or less in agreement with Left Front in supporting candidature of All India Secular Front (AISF)’s lone representative in state Assembly, Naushad Siddique, from Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha constituency in South 24 Parganas district, whose MP is Trinamool Congress’ general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.
However, both Congress and Left Front will extend the support, provided the AISF does not bargain for contesting from more constituencies in the state.
