WB Pradesh Congress sets conditions for alliance with Trinamool in Bengal

Kolkata: With a cloud hanging over the seat-sharing agreement between the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Congress in Bengal for the Lok Sabha elections, the state unit of the latter party is learnt to have proposed certain conditions to its senior leaders which must be fulfilled if such an alliance is to materialise in the state.

Even as the Pradesh Congress leaders apparently do not conform to the idea of seat sharing with the TMC in Bengal, its top rung leaders feel that it cannot focus on regional politics if it has to oust the BJP government from the Centre in the Lok Sabha elections. Amid such a situation, the West Bengal Pradesh Congress leaders are learnt to have reportedly proposed certain conditions to its senior leaders if the alliance is to materialise in Bengal.

Sources said that there are broadly two conditions placed with the Congress high command which have come to light. One of these involves several cases against state Congress leaders that are still open in several police stations across the state. It has been proposed that these cases must be dealt with by the TMC-led state administration in Bengal. Sources in the Congress said many of these are false cases slapped against them allegedly by TMC. The second condition is that the TMC will have to return at least some of the Congress party offices in Bengal which were allegedly overtaken by them over the years. Such demands have been placed with the Alliance Committee of the party at Nagpur. The Pradesh Congress leaders had earlier learnt to have suggested an alliance with the Left in Bengal but the party’s high command has made clear their intentions of forging an alliance with TMC.

The seats under the radar of the state Congress include Berhampore, Malda (South), Malda (North), Purulia, Raiganj, Murshidabad or Darjeeling. Out of these, Congress had won both Berhampore and Malda (South) in 2019 Parliamentary elections while TMC bagged Murshidabad. The rest were bagged by the BJP.

The Congress has also focused on Darjeeling after Binay Tamang switched to Congress from TMC last month. He has been made the general secretary of the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee and has been given charge of the affairs in the Hills ahead of the polls.

TMC, as per party sources, is willing to spare the two seats which Congress won in 2019 Lok Sabha polls. In return, it wants two seats each in Assam and Meghalaya from the grand old party.

Sources said that Mamata clarified that she is open to fair negotiations and even suggested that Congress, out of 543 seats in the country, can pose a one-on-one fight in 300 seats against the BJP and spare 100 seats for the INDIA bloc parties.