Left Front, Cong to contest West Bengal bypolls separately

Within six months of their poll debacle in the West Bengal Assembly elections where they fought as an alliance on seat sharing basis, the CPI(M)-led Left Front and the Congress are all set to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly by-elections separately.
Pointing out that CPI(M) has already declared its candidates for the bypolls "unilaterally", state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury today said they have sent a list of suggested candidates to the AICC for approval.
"We have informed the AICC that CPI(M) has unilaterally declared its candidate list for the bypolls. Perhaps they want to fight alone. We have prepared our list of candidates and sent it to the AICC for approval. Now AICC will take the final call," Chowdhury said.

The Lok Sabha seats of Tamluk in Purba Medinipur and the Cooch Behar in Cooch Behar district along with Monteswar Assembly seat in Bardhaman would go to the polls on November 19.
The Left Front had declared its candidates for the all three poll-bound constituencies last week.
The bypoll to Cooch Behar and Monteswar seats necessitated following the deaths of Trinamul Congress MP Renuka Sinha and MLA Sajal Panja.

The bypoll to Tamluk Lok Sabha seat was necessitated after TMC MP Suvendu Adhikari won the Nandigram Assembly seat and became a state minister.
Chowdhury avoided a direct reply as to whether the decision of CPI(M) and Congress to contest the bypolls separately was an indication of an end to the Left-Congress alliance in the state.

"What is (Left-Congress alliance) is not evident today, may become a possibility tomorrow. Politics is a dynamic phenomenon," he said.
Last week, Chowdhury had said the state Congress was yet to decide on contesting the bypolls.