Alliance imbroglio yet to resolve between LF & Cong, Left leaders to meet today

Kolkata: The Left Front's alliance with Congress has received a jolt after RSP, Forward Bloc and CPI demanded two Lok Sabha seats in Purulia and Basirhat. The distribution of seats with Congress has not been finalised yet either. The Front leaders will meet on Thursday to resolve the impasse.

CPI(M) has fielded two candidates, namely Mohammad Selim and Badrudojja Khan, for the Raigunj and Murshidabad seats. Both the candidates had won by 1,634 and 18,000 odd votes in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Initially, Congress did not accept this and decided to file candidates in both the seats as PCC leaders think that the party is strong in both the seats. Finally, Congress president Rahul Gandhi had to intervene to resolve the matter.

It may be mentioned that the alliance between Congress and CPI(M) did not work in the 2016 Assembly poll. The Left Front got 32 seats out of which CPI(M) bagged 28, while Congress got 44 seats in the 294 member Bengal Assembly.

The CPI(M) Politburo had not accepted the unofficial alliance in 2016 and had issued a statement which stated that the "alliance was not consonant with the party's Central Committee's decision." It may be mentioned that in the past three years, CPI(M) leaders from Bengal have tried their best to convince the Central Committee to give their verdict for inking an alliance with Congress.