The talks of an electoral understanding between Left parties and the Congress in West Bengal seem to have hit a deadlock over the two Lok Sabha seats of Raiganj and Murshidabad.
Both the seats were won by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in 2014 Lok sabha polls and the Central Committee of the party on Monday had proposed that there should be “no mutual contest on six sitting Lok Sabha seats, currently held by Congress and the Left Front”. This meant that Congress should not put up candidates on these two seats. However, the State Congress is not happy over the proposal.
“From the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC), we are not willing to give up either Raiganj or Murshidabad Lok Sabha seats. This would go against the sentiment of Congress workers,” State Congress president Somendranath Mitra told The Hindu on Tuesday.
Hours after the CPI(M) Central Committee proposed no mutual contest the State Congress in a statement said, “Certain geographies have been historically Congress bastions and we find it difficult to ignore our supporters in such constituencies”.
On Tuesday, Mr Mitra made it clear that the term “certain geographies” was meant for Raiganj and Murshidabad. He saidMr Mitra said that the WPCCC has communicated this to the Congress president Rahul Gandhi and asked him to take final decision on the matter.
Raiganj seat has traditionally been with an old Gandhi-family loyalist, late Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi. His wife and former MP of Raiganj [2009-2014] Dipa Dasmunshi contested from Raiganj in 2014.
The Congress is reluctant to leave the seat to veteran CPI(M) MP Md Salim, who defeated Ms Dasmunshi by little over 1600 votes.
The other CPI(M) seat, Murshidabad, was bagged by Badarudozza Khan. In this seat too Congress was defeated by about 18,000 votes.
The State Congress is also looking for a long term agreement and keen that the understanding with the Left parties should not look as a “marriage of convenience”.
“My primary concern and condition to any alliance is we don’t want it to look like a marriage of convenience. It should be a permanent alliance and should continue at least till the next Assembly election in #Bengal,” Mr Mitra tweeted. He also added that if these conditions are not addressed “INC (Indian National Congress), West Bengal, will fight the [Lok Sabha] polls on its own [in] #Bengal."
Many in the Left, however, view his stance as “a pressure strategy.”
The Congress and the Left parties had contested 2016 Assembly polls in West Bengal under a broad “electoral understanding.” Both the parties did not field candidates against each other in most of the seats. The Left Front is likely to hold a meeting on March 8 in Bengal to further discuss the issue.
