Battle for Bengal: Left-Cong-ISF alliance runs into trouble; senior Cong leader questions tie-up

New Delhi: Congress-Left parties-Indian Secular Front (ISF) coalition seems to have run into trouble within days of taking shape, with the newly formed outfit not agreeing to seat sharing deal with the grand old party.

Moreover, Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma today questioned the rationale of allying with a regional ‘fanatic’ like ISF and described the alliance as ‘painful & shameful’.

“Congress cannot be selective in fighting communalists but must do so in all its manifestations, irrespective of religion and colour. The presence and endorsement West Bengal PCC President is painful and shameful, he must clarify,” Anand Sharma said.

“Congress’ alliance with parties like ISF and other such forces militates against the core ideology of the party and Gandhian and Nehruvian secularism, which forms the soul of the party. These issues need to be approved by the CWC,” he went on to add.

Congress cannot be selective in fighting communalists but must do so in all its manifestations, irrespective of religion and colour. The presence and endorsement West Bengal PCC President is painful and shameful, he must clarify.

— Anand Sharma (@AnandSharmaINC) March 1, 2021

Furfura Sharif cleric makes Cong uneasy

Yesterday, Left-Congress alliance held a huge rally in the Brigade Parade ground, Kolkata and offered it as an alternative to Mamata Banerjee-led TMC. Furfura Sharif’s cleric Pirzada Abbas Siddiqui has decided to move out of the coalition following failure of seat-sharing talks with the Congress.

The cracks in alliance emerged over seat-sharing. Congress MP Pradeep Bhattacharya recently said that Congress and Left have agreed for an alliance in 193 seats of the 294 in the State’s Assembly. Out of these 193, Congress will contest on 92 and Left will contest on 101 seats. ISF demanded 30 seats from Left and both parties agreed on this. But, Congress refused to accede to its demand. Following this, Abbas Siddiqui announced fielding its candidate in those seats where Congress candidates will be in fray.

In an exclusive interview to TV9, Siddiqui, “We will put our candidate on the seats we like, we will fight the elections like we want to, Left has agreed to our demands, they will give us the rest of our seats as per our level, we will fight on those and in the rest of the seats we will support the left.”

Siddiqui was first approached by Asaduddin Owasi’s party, the Hyderabad-based All India Majlis Ittehad e Muslimeen (AIMIM). They have decided to enter the Bengal election foray and were looking for an alliance. However, when the Left-Congress alliance reached out to him for tying up instead, Siddiqui dumped Owaisi and chose them as his new allies.

Last Week, Election Commission announced the dates for the elections of West Bengal which will take place in eight phases on dates: March 27, April 1, April 6, April 10, April 17, April 22, April 26 and April 29. The results will be announced on 2^nd May.