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Lok Sabha elections 2019: Fresh blow to Left-Congress pact in Bengal
The CPI (M) polled around 30% of the votes in the last Lok Sabha election in the state while the Congress managed to get just 10% of the vote share
The CPI(M)-led Left bloc announced candidates in 38 out of 42 seats in West Bengal, leaving aside the four seats the Congress had won in 2014, even as chances that the two could form an alliance are all but non-existent.
Announcing the second list of 13 candidates in Kolkata on Tuesday, the Left Front’s chairman Biman Bose said he hoped the Congress would reciprocate by withdrawing its candidate in the two seats the Left won in 2014. The state Congress chief rejected the offer outright. A senior member of the CPI(M) politburo pointed out that the Left Front did everything possible to make the alliance possible, including unilaterally announcing that it won’t fight in seats won by the Congress in the last Lok Sabha election. “It is now for the people of Bengal to see and judge how we tried to maximize the anti-BJP, anti-Trinamool votes in the state but the Congress didn’t come on board,” this person added on condition of anonymity.
The leader said the Left Front announced its first list of 25 candidates “after talking to the Congress leaders” and said “in those seats, the Congress has no fighting chance to take on BJP.”
The CPI (M) polled around 30% of the votes in the last Lok Sabha election in the state while the Congress managed to get just 10% of the vote share. While the Left Front wanted to distribute seats on the basis of the vote share, the Congress wanted a larger share of seats as it won four Lok Sabha seats to the former’s two.
Bose added that if the Congress does not withdraw its candidates in the two seats won by the Left, the combine would go ahead and field candidates in the Congress’ four seats. The Left Front has not nominated anyone in Malda North, Malda South, Jangipur and Baharampur that the Congress won in 2014.
State Congress chief Somen Mitra ruled out any compromise and said: “There cannot be any understanding with the conditions set by the Left Front. There is no question of responding to their offer (of 24-hour window).”
In the 2016 assembly polls, the Left won 25.69% of the votes in its worst performance since independence while the Congress received 12.25%.
“The Left should introspect on why it so desperately needs the Congress on the eve of the election. If they wanted a pact, they should have worked on it for last five years. The CPIM is making a fool out of itself,” said economist Prasenjit Bose.
