Left names candidates for 38 seats, Cong gets 4

The Left Front on Tuesday in a desperate move to keep the possibility of an alliance with Congress alive in West Bengal for the Lok Sabha elections declared candidates for 38 Lok Sabha seats and left out the four seats won by Congress in 2014.

Earlier the Left Front declared candidates 25 (included in the 38 seats declared on Tuesday) seats following which Congress pulled out of seat sharing discussions with them and declared candidates for 11 Lok Sabha seats in the state. The 11 seats included Murshidabad and Raiganj which was won by the Left Front in the last Lok Sabha elections.

“After 11 pm yesterday ( Monday) Congress sent a list of its 11 candidates in West Bengal to the media. The list even included Murshidabad and Raiganj seat which the Left Front won in 2014. Despite this, for now, we are not fielding candidates in the four seats won by Congress in the Lok Sabha elections,” said Left Front chairperson Biman Basu.

He also said that the Left Front will wait till 4.30 pm tomorrow unless their gesture for not fielding candidates in the four seats won by Congress.

“We want our gesture to get positive response from Congress. If we do not positive response from Congress then we will think otherwise,” said Basu.

Congress in 2014 won the Malda North, Malda South, Jangipur, Baharampur Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal.

However, state Congress president Somen Mitra said that there is no question of considering the Left Front’s proposal and it is not possible for them to enter into an alliance with the Left Front with the stipulations imposed by the later.