TMC, Congress differ on KMC seat-sharing

Hopes brightened today for a seat-sharing agreement between the Congress and the Trinamool Congress for the crucial civic election to Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) even differences persisted over arrangements in the districts. The two parties held talks here with both sides playing down their differences. State Congress leaders Pradip Bhattacharjee and Subrata Mukherjee met senior Trinamool Congress leader Partha Chatterjee to work out a formula for seat adjustment.

Both Mukherjee and Chatterjee told reporters after the one-and-a-half hour meeting that the "discussion was positive".

Apparently hinting at a climbdown from his earlier stand, Mukherjee, state Congress working president, said: "We are not rigid on the number of seats. Talks were positive and will continue." Asked if his party still insisted on contesting 51 out of 141 seats in the Left Front controlled KMC, Trinamool leader Partha Chatterjee replied "In all municipalities our aim is to defeat the CPI(M). People want a change."

 

Though the TMC leader did not clearly say as to how many seats it was ready to concede to the Congress, party insiders had earlier indicated that Trinamool would not concede all the seats Congress wanted to contest. In the last Lok Sabha polls in 2009 and Assembly by-elections later, Trinamool Congress had forced Congress to accept its seat-sharing terms.

Today's parleys followed talks in Delhi between Union Finance Minister and state Congress PCC president Pranab Mukherjee and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee. PCC leader Pradip Bhattacherjee said hurdles for a seat-sharing arrangement in the districts of Nadia, Hooghly and Murshidabad existed, though talks were progressing well for North 24-Parganas, Burdwan and Cooachbehar districts. The upcoming civic polls, being described as a semi-final before the next year's assembly elections, would be held on May 30 in the KMC and 81 municipalities across the state.

In Nadia and Murshidabad districts, Congress district presidents Shankar Singh and Adhir Chowdhury are opposed to any seat-adjustment with Trinamool Congress.