Even as the fate of its prospective alliance with Congress in West Bengal is yet to be decided the CPI(M) state leadership is considering to contest 28 seats instead of the usual 32 seats in the Lok Sabha elections.

CPI(M) sources told DH that the party is actively considering leaving the four seats to associate parties of the Left Front which are not official Left Front constituents. The move is aimed at consolidating “larger Left unity” ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. 
 
Usually out of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal the CPI(M) contests in 32 seats while rest of the 10 seats are given to Left Front allies. However, in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections CPI(M) is looking forward to joining forces with Left and other secular parties outside the Left Front to counter the twin challenges of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and BJP. 
 
“It is still not clear whether there will be any alliance with Congress. But for the sake of larger Left unity we are thinking of leaving four seats to Left parties outside the Left Front and other like-minded secular parties,” a senior CPI(M) State Committee member told DH. 
 
He also said that in the upcoming elections 17 Left parties including those outside the Left Front will contest the elections together and hence it is necessary that the CPI(M) leaves seats from its own to these Left parties such as the CPI(ML) Liberation as well as BSP and NCP.
 
Sources said that the CPI(M) state leadership is also wary of the fact that if they start strongly advocating for Left-Congress alliance before it becomes official it will not go down well with Left Front allies. Key Left Front constituents Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and Forward Bloc have earlier slammed CPI(M) for joining forces with Congress at the expense of the interests of the Left Front. 
 
“We want to ensure that this time our Left Font allies do not feel insecure and their grievances are addressed,” the CPI(M) leader said. 

CPI(M) sources further revealed that the party leadership will take a final call on the matter by the end of this month. 

The development assumes significance as it comes at a time when a disagreement has surfaced between the CPI(M) and Congress regarding the two Lok Sabha seats of Raiganj (in North Dinajpur District) and Murshidabad (in Murshidabad district). While Congress is keen on contesting from these two seats CPI(M) does not want to leave the two seats where they have sitting MPs.