Congress, CPM to finalise seat-sharing plan soon

New Delhi: Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) will begin formal seat- sharing talks in West Bengal for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls on February 27 in Kolkata, which will be headed by state chiefs of both the parties. Out of the total 42 seats in the state, the Congress wants to contest 20. The CPI(M) on its part is keen to contest around 25 seats.

Another key focus of these talks will be the seats of Murshidabad and Raiganj, which both the parties want to contest. The CPI(M) had won these seats in 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

According to sources in the Congress, while leaders from the parties have held informal talks in recent times, formal negotiations will begin on February 27 to finalise the seat-sharing formula and also to resolve the deadlock on the two seats.

Congress West Bengal chief Somen Mitra and CPI(M)'s state secretary Surya Kanta Mishra will head the negotiations.

While both Raiganj and Murshidabad Lok Sabha seats are currently with the CPI(M), the Congress is keen to contest from these seats for the 2019 polls as it claims that they have been for long, their stronghold and the Left won there in 2014 mainly due to multi-cornered contests.

There are 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal, out of which, Trinamul Cong-ress had swept the state by winning 34 seats in the 16th Lok Sabha, while the Congress managed to bag only four seats, and the CPI(M) as well as the BJP could got two seats each.

The Congress, Trinamul Congress and the CPI(M) had contested independently during the 2014 polls.

Sources said that Congr-ess has firmed up an alliance with the Left in Kerala and is now keen to finalise the deal with the CPI(M) in West Bengal.

The general feeling within Congress' state unit is that the Left cannot fight without its support and therefore it should leave its claims on the two seats.

The Left has only weakened since 2014, political observers say, citing the example of their loss in Tripura assembly elections last year after having ruled there for a long time.

While the Congress wants to nominate its candidates from Murshidabad and Raiganj, it is learnt that both the sitting MPs from these seats - Badaruddoza Khan and Mohammad Salim respectively of the CPI(M), want to contest again.

It therefore remains to be seen how the two parties manage to resolve these issues during their negotiations on February 27.