CONG, LEFT TO HOLD MEGA JOINT RALLY IN WEST BENGAL

Kolkata, Jan. 8: The CPM-led Left Front and the Congress, which have entered into an electoral alliance for the coming Assembly elections in West Bengal, will organise a mega joint rally at Kolkata in February or March, LF chairman Biman Bose said here on Thursday.

Leaders of the LF and the Congress, who have been holding parleys regularly on seat-sharing arrangements, met for another round of discussions during the day.

The parties decided to jointly hold a mega rally at the Brigade Parade Ground either in February or in March, Bose said after the day's meeting.

Bose, Leader of the Opposition in the outgoing Assembly, Abdul Mannan of the Congress and other leaders participated in the discussions.

The Congress High Command and the central leadership of constituent parties of the Left Front have given a go-ahead to their state units for a seat-sharing arrangement for the election to the 294-member Assembly due in April-May.

The LF and the Congress had contested the 2016 Assembly poll in the state in a seatsharing arrangement, but the alliance had fallen apart after that and the Front and the Congress fought the 2019 Lok Sabha elections on their own.

In the 2016 Assembly elections, the LFCongress alliance won 76 seats, with the Congress winning 44 seats and the Front emerging victorious in only 32 constituencies.

The Left Front failed to open its account in West Bengal in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, while the Congress could manage to win two seats.

CONGRESS HIGH command and the central leadership of constituent parties of the Left Front have given a go-ahead to their state units for a seat-sharing arrangement.