Congress’ poor show in Bihar Assembly elections has raised doubts in the Left Front in West Bengal as to whether the grand old party should be allotted a large number of seats in the Left-Congress alliance for the 2021 Assembly elections.
While the Congress won in only 19 out of 70 seats it contested in Bihar, the Left parties won 16 out of 29 seats they contested. The CPI-ML (Liberation) led the pack by winning 12 seats.
Sources in the Left Front said some of its constituents were apprehensive whether Congress’ “poor strike rate” in Bihar would throw a spanner into the seat-sharing discussions in Bengal. “Hopefully this time it would not become a hurriedly formed mess like the 2016 Assembly elections,” said a senior Left Front leader.
CPI-ML (Liberation) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said the Congress always takes a decision based on its legacy, but there must be a balance between the past and the present.
“The results would have been much better in Bihar if the Left and Congress contested in 50 seats each,” said Bhattacharya.
Sources in the CPI(M) West Bengal State Committee said the party was preparing for a “hard bargaining” with the Congress for the Assembly elections next year.
They also said the Congress barely have any ground-level organisation in Bengal but only had a “long political history.”
“Just because it (Congress) is a major party that does not necessarily mean that they should always get the most number of seats. Congress’ poor show became a crucial factor in Bihar. We are keeping an eye on the situation,” sources said.
Moreover, the delay by the Congress in starting the seat-sharing discussions had created apprehensions in the Left Front.
The demand of making Leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha and state Congress President Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury Chief Ministerial candidate by a section of state Congress leaders has not made the situation any better.
However, Chowdhury said there was no reason to worry about the Left-Congress alliance and it would come to power in Bengal dislodging the Mamata Banerjee government.