Talks between Congress and the Left over sharing of seats for the next year West Bengal Assembly elections will begin next week. The Left and the Congress have hit the roads together over the last one year on several issues, opposing the TMC government in the state and the BJP-led government at the Centre. The Left-Congress tie-up bagged 76 seats in the 294- member assembly in 2016.
“Now, this is the time to take forward this alliance to its logical conclusion, and that is sharing of seats for the elections. The preliminary talks will begin next week,” senior Congress leader and West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said on Wednesday. The Lok Sabha MP said TMC and the BJP are trying to polarise the state on communal lines, and it is the duty of the Left and the Congress to provide a third alternative.
The two sides want to begin the talks as early October for the elections likely to be held in April-May next year. “The talks are being started now so that there are no problems at the last moment. We struck a seat-sharing deal for the 2016 assembly elections but it was half-baked. During the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, we couldn”t stitch an alliance as the talks failed at the last moment,” Chowdhury said.