Pranab meets Sonia as Mamata offers 70 seats
Union finance minister and Congress master strategist Pranab Mukherjee met party president Sonia Gandhi here on Monday evening to brief her on the ongoing seat-sharing negotiations with Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamul Congress for the West Bengal Assembly elections.
Ms Banerjee has indicated her willingness to concede 70 seats to the Congress — 12 more than Trinamul’s initial offer of 58. But the Congress is still bargaining hard and wants at least three to five more seats, sources said. It is learnt, though, that the dialogue between Trinamul and the Congress is progressing “in a positive direction, and there is no threat to the alliance”.
West Bengal Youth Congress chief Mausam Noor also met Mrs Gandhi and urged her nominate “young turks” to counter the Marxists in the coming Assembly polls. Ms Noor gave Mrs Gandhi a list of 30 Youth Congress nominees for possible party tickets. She has also sought an appointment with AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi. Sources said Ms Noor had been asked by the high command to furnish a list of “young turks”.
It may be recalled that on Sunday the West Bengal Left Front had declared its list of candidates, dropping nine sitting ministers and bringing in 149 fresh faces.
With Congress-Trinamul talks still inconclusive, grassroots Congress workers in the state are getting “impatient”. PCC chief Manas Bhuniya is on record saying: “We told our high command in Delhi to settle the issue as soon as possible as the process of the first phase of polls will start soon.” The Congress is also upset over the seats being offered to them by Trinamul as they feel “most of them are not winnable”, a party leader said.
Sources said Mr Mukherjee told Mrs Gandhi that both sides were being flexible in the negotiations. Of the 294 Assembly berths, the Congress, which had sought 98 Assembly berths, was now bargaining for 73 seats. The Trinamul Congress, which initially refused to concede anything more than 58 seats, is now ready to concede at least 70 seats.
It is learnt that both the Congress and Trinamul are in no mood to “jeopardise” the alliance. “We both need each other. Though Trinamul is on stronger ground, Mamata still needs us,” a Congress leader said.
It is further learnt that Mr Mukherjee and Ms Banerjee are in constant touch, and that Mr Mukherjee is likely to visit Kolkata to finalise the deal once the negotiations over seats is complete. Talks are also being held on the possibility of joint campaigning by Mr Mukherjee and the Trinamul supremo. Sources said the Congress was keeping all options open on the issue of sharing power with Ms Banerjee’s party in the event of the Marxists being defeated in the Assembly elections.
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