CONG, LEFT SEAL POLL DEAL ON 193 SEATS IN BENGAL

KOLKATA: The electoral alliance between the Congress and the Left for the coming assembly polls in Bengal made progress on Thursday when the parties agreed to share 116 seats in addition to the 77 that they had won as allies in 2016. The West Bengal assembly has 294 seats.

The parties also announced that they will hold a joint rally in Kolkata’s historic Brigade Parade Ground on February 28..

“Today we took another step forward in forming a strong alliance against the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Earlier we decided to share the 77 seats that the Congress and the Left parties won in 2016. Today we reached an agreement on 116 more seats. People of Bengal want to give a befitting reply to the ruling party as well as the BJP,” Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said after the talks.

Left Front chairman Biman Bose said: “The talks on seat sharing will continue, keeping in view the ground reality.”

Congress leaders said they will invite either former party president Rahul Gandhi or his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, a general secretary, to address the rally.

TMC Lok Sabha member and party spokesperson Saugata Roy, who had earlier urged the Left and the Congress to support the TMC, said: “These parties have lost a lot of strength, but whatever gains they make will make the BJP suffer.”

Reacting to the Congress-left seat sharing deal, BJP state vicepresident Jay Prakash Majumdar said: “Both are spent forces in Bengal. The contest is between the TMC and the BJP.”