Manas faces ire for disclosing seat sharing demand

West bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC), Manas Bhuniya’s demand for 98 seats in seat sharing arrangements with the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has landed him in controversy afresh and divided the party in West Bengal

As Congress prepares for seat sharing talks with TMC. a section of PCC leaders today accused WBPCC president Manas Bhuniya of ‘vitiating’ the atmosphere for talks by going public with a demand for 98 of the 294 seats.

The leaders - PCC spokesperson Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, state INTUC president Pradip Bhattacharya, the new WBPCC general secretary Amitabha Chakraborty and PCC Election Committee member Abdul Mannan - said there should not be any pre-condition before the seat sharing talks begin between the Congress high command and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee.

“Whether 98 or 198 seats, it should be discussed across the table between the competent representatives of the two parties and not through the media. The way Manas Bhuniya is going public with his demand for 98 seats will turn things from bad to worse and he should be restrained immediately," Roy, considered be close to Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said.

He alleged that Bhuniya was not only making the Congress workers "hostile" but was also "vitiating the atmosphere for talks" at a time when none of the Trinamool Congress leaders had made any comment to the media so far regarding the number of seats their party wanted to contest.