Congress-Left firms deal in 230 Bengal seats – Times of India

KOLKATA: The Left Front and Congress on Tuesday claimed they had worked out a seat-sharing mechanism in 230 of Bengal’s 294 assembly seats in the upcoming polls, which are likely to be announced sometime next week.
The parties, however, kept their plans in the remaining 64 seats close to their chest, mainly because they needed more time to fine-tune arrangements with Furfura Sharif cleric Abbas Siddiqui’s newly launched Indian Secular Front (ISF) — which has sought 50 seats — and with RJD and NCP, with whom the Left has had similar arrangements in the past.
“We have completed discussions over seat adjustments in the coming assembly polls. But we are not announcing the list right now,” said Left Front chairman Biman Bose after a three-hour meeting, in which Congress Lok Sabha leader and Pradesh Congress president Adhir Chowdhury was also present.
According to sources close to the development, both parties needed some more time to work out the details with ISF, whose president, Nausad Siddiqui, had written to them asking for seats in South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas, Nadia and East Midnapore. At nearly all of these places, Left parties have had a greater vote share than Congress. Sources indicated the Left would have to sacrifice some seats to ISF if the deal has to materialise.
The ISF had declared itself a party for Muslims, Dalits and Adivasis, a demography that could prove very crucial, giving the party an important bargaining point.
Abbas Siddiqui, in a recent jalsa (religious gathering), held that he wanted a “half-century (50) seats” to make the seat adjustments work. Left and Congress leaders had agreed to talk to the party on condition that it would have to dissociate itself from Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM.
ISF support to Left and Congress candidates might fetch some seats for the Left-Cong tie-up, particularly for the Left, in south Bengal. At the same time, the deal might spark debate on the tryst of mainstream parties with a party floated by a cleric. CPM politburo member Mohammad Salim refused to call ISF “Abbas Siddiqui’s” party. “Correct your information. I have the letter with me. Sibu Soren is the ISF chairman,” Salim had recently told reporters.
But a deal with the ISF is something the Left would like to tread with caution, especially over fears of how it would be spun by the BJP. The saffron party could dub the alliance as one “close to minorities”, trying to consolidate the majority Hindu votes in its favour, like it had done in Uttar Pradesh. “We are aware of the risks involved. The ISF has to show the secular card in the run-up to the polls,” said an LF leader.
Then, there is the matter of seat-sharing with RJD and NCP. Left partners admitted that working out a smooth seat-adjustment formula was easier said than done. “Problems over seat adjustments with Congress remain in Malda, Murshidabad and Purulia. Congress stands stubborn, leaving it to the Left to sacrifice seats,” said a Left leader.