Lok Sabha polls 2024: What is keeping Congress from tying up with Left in West Bengal?

Last week, the Left Front, comprising the CPI(M), CPI and Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), announced a list of 16 candidates.

Ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha election, both the BJP and Trinamool Congress have decided on seat-sharing with their allies and released the names of candidates for all the 42 seats. However, the Congress and the Left have not yet reached a seat-sharing arrangement.

Last week, the Left Front, comprising the CPI(M), CPI and Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), announced a list of 16 candidates.

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In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, a four-cornered fight in 40 constituencies, except Behrampore had helped BJP win 18 seats as compared to two in 2014. With the BJP and Trinamool clear about their respective seats, the lack of consensus between the Left and Congress may lead to a four-cornered fight in the state like 2019.

According to reports, Indian Secular Front

(ISF), led by Furfura Sharif cleric Abbas Siddiqui, had wanted 14 seats as part of the alliance. But it later came down to eight. The Left reportedly did not want to part with more than six seats. “They (ISF) 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 told Indian Express.

Meanwhile, the Congress reportedly wants 12 seats, but the Left is trying to bring that down to 10. On the other hand, the Left is reportedly seeking Murshidabad in exchange for Purulia and Raiganj. Murshidabad

is known as the stronghold of West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.

With no response from the Congress yet, the Left Front is preparing to announce a final list of their candidates. Meanwhile, the Congress is reportedly saying that the delay is caused since its brass is finalising the seats state by state. Meanwhile, it is also said that the delay was caused since a section of Congress leaders were focusing on seat-sharing with

Trinamool.

The Congress and Left are banking on “rising anti-incumbency” among Bengal voters over various scams and the Sandeshkhali incident. However, failing to win an adequate number of seats might lead to both the Left and the Congress moving towards political obscurity in West Bengal.

Their loss would also prove that the INDIA alliance is a defunct force in the state without the support of the Trinamool Congress.

Meanwhile, Chowdhury said 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 told the media.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress won two and the Left won no seats. In 2014, the Congress bagged four and the Left two seats.