Alliance talks between the TMC and Congress may have failed in West Bengal but CNN-News18 has learnt that deliberations are on between the Grand Old Party and the Left to chalk out a seat-sharing plan for the 2024 polls.
Sources in CPI(M) and Congress said while the Left plans to contest on 20 seats — with focus on South Bengal — the Congress is keen to fight on 22.
A senior CPI(M) leader said: “We are strong in South Bengal but we should get one seat from Murshidabad. Baharampur and North Bengal are Congress’s strongholds, they will do well there. We hope talks start soon.”
There is a strong chance that Left and Congress will join hands with the Indian Secular Front (ISF) — a party that talks about minority rights. ISF leader Naushad Siddiqui holds sway in the minority belt of the state and has declared that he will contest from the high-profile seat of Diamond Harbour from where TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee is the MP.
Left and Congress were in a seat-sharing arrangement in the 2021 assembly polls too with the ISF but the alliance tanked, winning just one seat in Bhangar.
Sources said while Left plans to contest on 20 seats, Congress may agree to 20 too and two may be given to ISF.
In North Bengal, sources in Congress said the party wants to contest from Darjeeling, Raigunj (old stronghold), North Malda, South Malda, Jangipur, Murshidabad, and Baharampur (Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury’s seat).
In 2019, Congress had won just two seats in Bengal — Baharampur and South Malda. In South Malda, the party’s vote percentage was 34.73 per cent while BJP’s was 34.09 per cent. Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra too travelled all across North Bengal as Congress feels it is strong in the region and can win votes.
The Raigunj seat may, however, prove to be a bone of contention between the Left and Congress. While the latter wants to contest from there as the seat once belonged to Priyaranjan Dasmunsi and later his wife Dipa also won from it, in 2014, CP(M)’s Md Salim won from the seat.
In North Bengal, six seats — Murshidabad, South Malda, North Malda, Jangipur, Baharampur, and Raigunj — have huge minority presence and the fact that the Congress-TMC alliance did not take place may benefit any single party, including BJP, say experts.
In 2019, Raigunj and North Malda went to BJP because of division of opposition vote. Experts say this could be repeated in the 2024 polls.
In South Bengal, Congress wants to contest from Puruliya among other seats. Sources said since both the parties had chalked out their initial plan, the talks were expected to go on without too many hiccups.
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