Rahul, Yechury intervenes to resolve Cong-CPI (M) seat-sharing impasse in Bengal

The impasse between the CPI(M) and the Congress over the seat-sharing deal in Bengal seems to have resolved after intervention of Rahul Gandhi and Sitaram Yechury.

According to Congress sources, after the CPI(M) announced candidates for Raiganj and Murshidabad Lok Sabha seats, the state unit of the Gandhi-led party urged the AICC to look into the matter.

"We have come to know that Gandhi and Yechury discussed the matter. Later on, after speaking to state Congress leaders and Deepa Dasmunsi, one of the prime contenders for Raiganj, it has been decided that the Congress won't put up candidates in those two seats," a senior Congress leader said.

However there has been no official communication on the development as of now, the Congress leader said.

Amid the ongoing seat-sharing talks between the CPI(M) and the Congress in West Bengal, the Left Front on Friday announced its candidates for the Raiganj and Murshidabad Lok Sabha seats, a bone of contention between the two parties.

The current MPs -- Mohammed Salim and Badaruddoza Khan -- would contest from Raiganj and Murshidabad respectively, Biman Bose, chairman of the CPI(M)-led Left Front, had said.

The announcement drew sharp reactions from the state unit of the Congress, which was not ready to compromise on those two seats.

The CPI(M) central committee on Monday came out with a proposal of "no mutual contest" in the Lok Sabha polls in the six seats jointly held by the two parties in the state.

It was seen as a move to untangle the seat-sharing formula between the two parties to consolidate the anti-BJP and anti-TMC votes.

While the Congress had bagged four seats in the state in the 2014 general election, the Left party had won only Raiganj and Murshidabad.

The seats -- though won by the CPI(M) in 2014 by a slender margin -- are considered Congress bastions.

The CPI(M) had won the two seats in a four-cornered contest the last time.

While North Dinajpur's Raiganj has been a pocket borough of Congress stalwart Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, Murshidabad's politics has been dominated by the party's firebrand leader, Adhir Chowdhury, who is also a vociferous supporter of the alliance with the Left.

The two seats have been a bone of contention between the two sides since the beginning of the discussions.