Kolkata, June 30 (IANS) With less than a year left for the crucial West Bengal Assembly elections next year, the formal preparatory process for reaching a smooth Congress-Left Front seat sharing agreement is to begin, with both sides putting the responsibility of initiating such talks on each other.

In both the 2021 West Bengal Assembly polls and the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the formal process of drafting the blueprint for the seat-sharing agreement started more than a year before the polls concerned.

Political observers feel that riddles for a smooth seat-sharing agreement this time are far too many.

The first riddle is the absence of the two architects of previous seat-sharing agreements, namely former CPI-M General Secretary late Sitaram Yechury and the former State Congress President as well former party Lok Sabha member Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.

Before his sudden demise last year, Yechury had swum against the opposition from the dyed-in-the-wool and anti-Congress faction led by the party’s Kerala lobby in ensuring a smooth seat-sharing agreement with Congress, both in West Bengal as well as in Kerala.

“Yechury could convince the hardliners in the party that ground political realities in Kerala with Congress as the principal political opponent and West Bengal, with Trinamool Congress and BJP as the main rivals, were different and hence the party will have to follow state-specific strategies. However, currently, the central leadership of our party is dominated by hardliners who are against any kind of understanding with Congress anywhere in the country. In such a situation, the process of initiating talks for a smooth seat-sharing agreement is yet to start,” said a state committee member of CPI-M in West Bengal.

Similarly, in the case of Congress, the main architect within the party for the seat-sharing agreement with Left Front, both in 2021 and 2024 was Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who had always been soft towards CPI-M and at the same time an out-and-out “anti-Trinamool Congress” and “anti-Mamata Banerjee” personality.

However, political observers feel, his successor Subhankar Sarkar is identified as a leader who prefers toeing his party’s central line of maintaining a workable relationship with Trinamool Congress.

On one hand, the CPI-M Politburo member and the West Bengal party’s secretary had clearly said that it is up to Congress to decide whether they want a seat-sharing agreement with the Left Front or not for the 2025 state Assembly polls.

On the other hand, Sarkar has not only maintained silence on this issue but once again stressed strengthening Congress’s organisation network in West Bengal rather than depending on any other party for electoral success.

The second riddle for a smooth seat-sharing agreement is the possible reluctance of other Left Front allies, especially the All India Forward Bloc and Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), to sacrifice their traditional seats in support of any Congress candidate.

In the recent bypolls for the Kaliganj Assembly constituency in Nadia district of West Bengal, the CPI-M leadership had a tough time in convincing RSP leadership to forego their claim for the seat in support of the Congress candidate Kabil Uddin Shaikh.

“Although RSP decided to forego its claim for Kaliganj bypolls, they told our leadership that in 2026 they will field their candidate from Kaliganj. On the other hand, Forward Bloc since the beginning had been against any understanding with Congress. Even in 2024, the seat-sharing agreement did not work in those seats where Forward Block fielded candidates going against the wish of combined Left Front leadership,” the state CPI-M committee member said.

–IANS

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