Even before the two parties can enter into any kind of pre-poll alliance a hard bargaining has begun between the Congress and the CPI(M) over the seat-sharing formula, sources say.
According to reports the Congress has been asking for anywhere between 90 and 95 seats from the left while the latter is not ready to leave 60-65. A section of Congress leaders had initially fixed their demand at 102 seats but later scaled it down to 90-95 seats because of the stiff opposition from the smaller parties within the left Front who do not want to leave any seat.
The lesser partners like the Forward Bloc, RSP and CPI want the CPI(M) to do the sacrifice by leaving seats to the Congress leading the latter not to press for 100-plus seats and scale things down to 90-plus instead sources said.
According to reports the Congress high command does not want to give a formal go-ahead for an alliance before the two sides had agreed on number of seats to be contested.
In 2011 the Trinamool Congress had given 65 seats to the Congress which had won 42 out of it. Incidentally last time also the Congress had demanded about 90 seats and things had reached a pass where the alliance talks between the two parties had almost collapsed.
With the Pradesh Congress Committee refusing to yield ground Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee had singularly announced the names of her candidates from 228 seats and threatened to take the remaining seats if the Congress did not all in line. Subsequently the Congress settled down for 65 seats.
However this time round the Congress wants more number of seats considering the fact the poor condition the left finds itself in.
Senior CPI(M) leaders like Gautam Deb have gone on record saying the left is not in a position to combat the Trinamool’s muscle and money power without the help of parties like Congress.
The CPI(M)’s weakness to impose a bargain seems to be the PCC’s strength. While in 2011 Banerjee’s strength was her party’s phenomenal win in the 2009 general elections the left lacks any such record in the near past losing most elections to the Trinamool since it lost power in 2011.
The Congress is not only asking for the seats it had won but it has also been asking for those it came second in 2011. The PCC is of the opinion that the Congress has a good 6-7 percent vote in the State. The left with 37-38 percent vote cannot challenge the Trinamool which has around 44 per cent vote share according to a recent opinion poll.
The CPI(M) which has recently organised a host of “houseful rallies” is also relying on findings of the same opinion polls which says the left will win 85-plus seats and the Congress will come down to 15 seats from its present 35 (seven Congress MlAs have crossed over to the Trinamool side) if they fight separately.
If they fight jointly their combined tally may go up to 107 and the difference of vote percentage between the Trinamool Congress and “Alliance” then may narrow down to one percent. The opinion poll puts the percentage share of the two sides to 44 percent for TMC and 43 per cent for left-Congress alliance making it clear that fate of as much as 70-75 seats would depend upon merely one percent vote.