The final seat-sharing matrix between the Trinamul Congress and the Congress for the coming West Bengal Assembly polls will only be decided after Trinamul supremo Mamata Banerjee and senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee discuss the matter in Kolkata in the next couple of days.
The several rounds of talks between Ms Banerjee’s emissaries and the Congress leadership in New Delhi on Sunday remained inconclusive. The Trinamul’s reported offer of around 60 seats — up from the earlier 58 — has not satisfied the Congress, it is learnt. But there are also indications that the Congress has agreed to scale down its demand to 75 seats — 23 less than its original wishlist of 98 Assembly constituencies, even though those involved in the seat-sharing talks were tightlipped on the subject.
The failure to reach any final seat-sharing arrangement on Sunday was not surprising given that eventually it will be Ms Banerjee, who runs her party with an iron hand, and Mr Mukherjee, with whom she has a good understanding, who will decide which party will get how many seats. While Ms Banerjee realises the vital importance of an alliance with the Congress if she is to rout the Left in West Bengal, sensing victory, she is clearly is in no mood to give the latter too much. Further, with the CPI(M) declaring the names of 292 Left Front candidates for the 294-member Assembly in Kolkata on Sunday, Ms Banerjee will also be able to get an even clearer picture of how much she should concede to the Congress, Trinamul sources told this newspaper.
Besides the small number of seats offered by Trinamul to the Congress, what has also riled the latter is that most of these are so-called “losing” seats. While the Congress has officially sought one-third of the 294 seats in the Assembly, there is absolutely no chance of Ms Banerjee conceding that much.
The Trinamul Congress currently has 30 MLAs in the Assembly and 19 Lok Sabha MPs, while the Congress has 19 MLAs in the Assembly and six MPs from West Bengal in the Lok Sabha.
Trinamul ministers of state Mukul Roy and Sultan Ahmed held a series of meetings with Congress leaders in New Delhi on Sunday, where they basically conveyed what their chief wanted in terms of seat-sharing to the Congress leadership. Those present from the Congress side were the party’s West Bengal in-charge Shakeel Ahmed, West Bengal PCC chief Manas Bhuniya and Congress screening committee in-charge for the state Janardan Poojari.
Mr Roy, a close aide of Ms Banerjee, and Mr Ahmed began the day with a two-hour meeting with Mr Ahmed, Mr Bhuniya and Mr Poojari at the Congress “war room” at Gurdwara Rakabganj Road in the heart of the city. Later, in the evening, they held another round of talks, for around 30 minutes, with Mr Pranab Mukherjee at the latter’s residence.
Mr Bhuniya and other West Bengal Congress leaders also met separately with Mr Mukherjee on Sunday.
With both parties realising the need for an alliance if they are to win, Mr Ahmed hoped it would be in place soon. Mr Mukul Roy, who returned to Kolkata in the evening, told reporters there would be a “tough fight” ahead.