Cong, LF resume talks on seat-sharing ahead of KMC polls

Kolkata: Senior Congress and CPI(M) leaders have resumed talks on seat-sharing for the forthcoming Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) elections.

Initially, it has been proposed that Left Front candidates will fight in 80 seats while the Congress nominees will be fielded in the remaining 64 seats.

The leaders of both Congress and Left Front felt that the impressive turn out of people particularly the youths in the recently held rallies against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) had inspired the party's rank and file. They said the alliance between the two parties should be smooth.

Political experts said so far the alliance between the CPI(M) and Congress did not go down well with the people. In the 2016 Assembly elections, the Left Front's seat in the Assembly was lowest since 1972.

In 2019 Lok Sabha elections there was no alliance and in the three by-elections at Karimpur, Kharagpur Sadar and Kaliagunj held in 2019 the alliance's performance was poor.

It is not very clear whether CPI, Forward Bloc and SUCI will support the alliance. CPI(M) leaders have opened talks with PDS and CPIML leaders on seat sharing.

CPI(M) leaders are ready to give more seats to Congress. It was learnt that leaders of both parties have started selecting candidates at the local level.