Left Front chairperson Biman Bose on Monday cautioned Indian Secular Front chief and Furfura peer Abbas Siddique not to target the Congress party leadership.
“When we are in alliance, we should speak in one voice. We hope that he will heed the advice and not repeat that in future,” Mr. Bose said referring to remarks made by Mr. Siddique at the Brigade Parade Grounds on Sunday and later to journalists.
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While thanking the Left parties, he had criticised the Congress leadership for not conceding his demands on seat sharing. On Monday morning, the religious leader had said some higher ups in the Congress are “working as stooges of Trinamool Congress and the BJP”.
Senior Left leaders including CPI(M) State Secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra held a meeting with PCC president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury at the State Congress headquarters Bidhan Bhawan.
Asked about the criticism in some quarters including those levelled by the TMC accusing the Left parties of allying with the ISF and dubbing the newly formed party a “communal force”, Mr. Bose said the criticism has no basis.
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“ I do not think the criticism has to do anything with reality. The ISF is a not communal force and it is not going to field candidates only from the minority community but also Hindu candidates and candidates from backward groups like like the SCs and the STs,” he said.
The Left and the Congress leadership also tried to give hints that despite some hiccups the talks of seat sharing are on the right track. “Though the discussion is not technically resolved, we have been able to resolve the differences politically. A reflection of the understanding was at the Brigade Parade Grounds,” Mr. Chowdhury said.
He said the formula adopted by the Left and the Congress earlier was that those who have won the seats will get priority followed by the places where they had come second or third in the 2016 Assembly polls. This formula had to be altered to accommodate other political forces.