WB LS polls: Left Front to wait till Tuesday for a pro-alliance word from Congress

With the Congress calling off seat-sharing talks with the Left Front for Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal, the CPI(M)-led grouping Monday said it will till tomorrow for a pro-alliance statement from the Congress.

"We hope wisdom would prevail and the Congress would realise how important it is to ensure maximum pooling of anti-TMC and anti-BJP votes in the state," Left Front chairman Biman Bose said.

The Left Front will hold a meeting Tuesday to decide its next course of action, Bose told reporters here.

However, in a late night development, sources said general secretary of CPI(M) Sitaram Yechury has spoken to Congress chief Rahul Gandhi to resolve the situation.

After weeks of parleys failed to resolve the impasse over distribution of seats, the West Bengal unit of the Congress on Sunday called off the talks, saying it did not want any alliance by compromising the party's dignity.

The Left Front will wait and see whether the Congress announces candidates for Raiganj and Murshidabad Lok Sabha seats which the Left had won in the 2014 elections, a senior leader of the Left Front said.

"If the Congress announces candidates in those two seats, we will also declare our nominees in seats that it had won (in 2014). The Congress should realise how important it is to have a seat sharing deal," the Left leader said.

A section of the Congress leadership felt insulted by the Left Front unilaterally announcing its list for 25 seats last week when the talks were on between both the parties, Congress sources said.

The Left Front in its list announced Congress leader Rezaul Karim's name from Lok Sabha seat.

The list mentioned Karim as candidate from Birbhum, but did not say which party he represents.

"How can it decide who will be our candidate? Our medical cell chairman's name was declared as their Birbhum candidate without taking permission from our side. This is absurd. So what's the use of negotiations if Left Front declares candidates on our behalf?" state Congress chief Somen Mitra asked.

On this issue, Bose said, "Karim is neither an activist of the Left Front nor of the Congress. We have given him nomination as he has been at the forefront of agitation by doctors."