Cong, Left discuss modalities of joint front for West Bengal bypolls

Learning a lesson from the mistakes committed during their 2016 tie-up for the assembly elections, the Congress and the Left Front on Wednesday formally discussed modalities of a joint front in West Bengal to counter the BJP and the TMC in the state.

The CPI(M) and the Congress in West Bengal for the second time in the past one month conducted a joint press conference and announced that they, apart coordinating at the state level, would also have coordination committees in West Midanpore, Nadia and Uttar Dinajpur districts, where assembly bypolls are scheduled to be held on November 25.

"There were a lot of questions, whether the Left and the Congress would be able to come together. This is to send out a message that both parties would henceforth work together," West Bengal Congress president Somen Mitra said.

Mitra's views were echoed by Left Front chairman and CPI(M) politburo member Biman Bose and other leaders.

According to sources in both parties, apart from the agreement on the 2:1 formula for the bypolls, under which the Congress is slated to fight from Kharagpur Sadar and Kaliaganj assembly seats in West Midnapore and Uttar Dinajpur and the CPI (M) in Karimpur of Nadia dsitrict, it has also been decided that they would conduct joint campaigns based on a common minimum programme.

Several aspects of the joint movement, a common minimum programme and modalities of the joint announcement of candidates for the bypolls were also discussed.

"We have clearly said that mistakes of 2016 should not be repeated, where we saw a complete transfer of the Left votes to the Congress but there was a lack of the complete transfer of the Congress votes to Left Front candidates. We have asked the Congress leadership to ensure that this thing doesn't happen again," a senior Left Front leader said.

The development comes in the backdrop of the BJP making deep inroads into the state and placing itself as the main challenger to the ruling Trinamool Congress by pushing the Congress and the Left Front to third and fourth positions, respectively.

The BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections bagged 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state, only four short of the the TMC.

The TMC's tally came down from 34 in 2014 to 22 in the elections.

The CPI(M)-led Left Front has drawn a blank and the Congress tally came down from four to two in Bengal.

The CPI(M) and the Congress had forged an alliance in the state during the 2016 assembly polls but it failed to evoke much response.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the proposed Congress-CPI(M) alliance fell apart after both parties failed to reach an agreement on seat-sharing.