West Bengal: CPI(M) to discuss seat-sharing proposal with Congress

The Communist Party of India’s (Marxist) Central Committee (CC) will discuss a proposal for a seat pact with the Congress for the next year’s West Bengal assembly elections on Friday and Saturday (October 30 and 31).

The 94-member CC will discuss the proposal for a seat-sharing agreement. The move comes after the CPI(M) and other Left parties have been a part of a similar pact with the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal in the upcoming Bihar polls.

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Meanwhile, the central leadership of the Congress is yet to receive any formal proposal from the Bengal unit on the alliance with the CPI(M).

The CPI(M) and the Congress have joined hands for several protests and public programmes against the Mamata Banerjee-led government in Bengal. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury’s appointment as the state unit chief of the Congress also strengthened the prospects of an electoral tie-up between the Left and the Congress.

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However, the CPI(M) leadership will wait for a green signal from the Congress after its bitter experience in last year’s parliamentary elections.

The CPI(M) had unilaterally announced its willingness for a seat pact, but the Congress didn’t settle for an alliance in last year’s Lok Sabha elections.

The parties fought the elections separately, and the Left parties failed to win a single seat from Bengal.
 

• CPM
• Congress
• west bengal