Bengal PCC wants 1/3rd seats in tieup
The West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) wants to contest one-third of Assembly seats in alliance with the Trinamul Congress (TMC) in the forthcoming state elections.
This was informed by the PCC chief, Mr Manas Bhunia, after his meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who is also the ruling UPA’s chairperson, here on Thursday evening.
Speaking to reporters after his meeting with the Congress president, Mr Bhunia said, “We have placed recommendations to Soniaji to follow the same formula adopted in 2009 parliamentary elections in relation to the partnership with TMC.”
The West Bengal Congress leader said the TMC-Congress alliance in the state is the “most rational way” to repeat the performance of the Lok Sabha elections in which the combine gave a drubbing to the ruling Left Front.
“In the seat-sharing formula, two-thirds of the seats must be allotted to the TMC, and one-third to the Congress as the Assembly strength stands at 294. This, I feel, is the most rational suggestion,” Mr Bhunia said.
Informing that he has requested the Congress high command to discuss and finalise the seat-sharing formula as early as possible, Mr Bhunia said the issue, however, is entirely up to Mrs Gandhi to take a final call.
Mrs Gandhi, the Pradesh Congress Committee chief informed, also gave directions to the PCC to form monitoring and vigilance committees at the block, district and state levels to look into the “misuse of the funds given by the Centre”.
“In addition, she asked us to report to her at 15 days’ interval to ensure that the UPA flagship programmes are implements properly in rural areas,” Mr Bhunia added.
The Congress leader from West Bengal expressed confidence that the Trinamul-Congress combine would trump the Left in the polls as this was “the long-felt aspiration of the people”.
“The state has suffered under the Left for decades now. The state is in a wretched condition. Everything has gone down except probably torture on women, which is on the rise. (Chief minister) Buddhadeb (Bhattacharjee) deserves a gold medal for this achievement,” Mr Manas Bhunia said.
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