Purulia may spoil Congress-CPM affair, Rahul-Yechury meet today

Kolkata: The Congress-CPM fling ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal seems to be over and both the parties are now determined to go separate ways at the hustings as they failed to strike a seat-sharing deal.

The main bone of contention was the Purulia constituency, where the Congress wanted to field its candidate whereas CPM's alliance partner All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) was determined to contest the seat.

Earlier, the two parties had differences over Raiganj and Murshidabad constituencies.

Represented by the CPM, Raiganj and Murshidabad are the only two Lok Sabha seats that the Left has in West Bengal at present. These two places, however, are known as the bastions of Congress now.

Aafter a meeting with the Left front on Sunday, Congress state president Soumen Mitra said Congress will field its candidates in all 42 parliamentary seats in the state.

“The Left Front is adamant on Purulia after Raigunj and Murshidabad. Moreover, the CPM has released the list of 25 seats without our consent. So we have decided to contest independently. I will be flying to Delhi on Monday to meet Rahul Gandhi and inform him about our decision,” said Mitra.

According to Left sources, senior CPM leaders will also meet Sitaram Yechury in Delhi on Monday. “Gandhi and Yechury are likely to hold another meeting in Delhi after they are informed about the recent developments in the state,” said sources.

According to both the parties, the final list will be released from Delhi in three phases.

Once both the parties reached an agreement on Raigunj and Murshidabad, another spat over Purulia emerged.

However, Purulia is a far more complex problem now. The seat is contested by the Left partner All India Forward Bloc (AIFB), a party rooted in anti-Congress ideology which has refused to even sit with the Congress for any talks on seat adjustments for any constituency in the state.

“We will contest from Purulia. We are not bothered about what the AIFB says. It will be absolutely okay for us if the CPM is on the same page with us,” said a senior Congress leader from Bengal.

In such a case, the Congress is hopeful of the CPM supporters casting their votes for its candidate, leaving AIFB in the lurch.

“Our fight is against the BJP-led central government and also TMC in the state. Though the saffron brigade has emerged as the main opposition in Bengal, we have to beat TMC in order to restore democracy in the state,” said CPM senior leader and politburo member Biman Bose.

According to sources, the Left Front is willing to give 11 Lok Sabha seats to the Congress, including the four seats that it had won in the 2014 polls, while the Congress wants to contest at least 17, including the present 4 sitting seats.

However, political observers are of the opinion that even if the Congress and the Left field individual candidates in Purulia, they will lose the battle to BJP.

“It is useless fighting over Purulia seat. Post the violent civic polls, the people of Purulia are against TMC and in favour of the saffron camp. Even if Congress and Left field individual candidates for that seat the BJP is expected to win,” said a political observer.

According to political analysts, if Congress and Left Front together field a strong candidate in Bashirhat constituency then they might wrest that seat defeating Nusrat Jahan (an actor) of TMC.

It may be recalled that earlier the discussions were stalled over the insistence of Congress to put up candidates in Raiganj and Murshidabad, the only two seats won by the CPM in the state in 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

The deadlock was resolved after Congress president Rahul Gandhi intervened and persuaded the state leadership to leave the two seats to the CPM. But now two other seats, Purulia and Basirhat, have emerged as the bone of contention.